Heart of the Kingdom (The Trophies 3)
by Bob Snicket
Summary: Super Smash Bros. meets Kingdom Hearts. In this dark, shocking conclusion to The Trophies series, Sora has failed to save his universe—the Disney Universe—from Xehanort's heart-darkening, world-destroying work. Can the Smash Universe succeed where others have failed, or is it their destiny to die together?
1. Synopsis and Space Pirates

" _Within each of us, there is a corruptible element which those who wish to destroy us may seek to draw upon…"_

 _~Meta Knight_

* * *

 **Synopsis and Space Pirates**

* * *

 _ **W**_ hat does it mean to live in the Smash Universe?

Does it simply mean to exist in body and mind, occupying material space within one of its many worlds? Does it mean to tangibly feel the soft heat of a Fire Flower, or the frigid freshness of Icicle Mountain snow, or the sultry suppleness of a Kongan palm tree? To taste the citric zing of a Delfinian grapefruit? To smell the savage spiciness of Chef Kawasaki's curry? To hear the quotidian clamor of Fourside City traffic? To behold the magnificence of mighty dragons pounding across the Akaneian sky?

Or does it mean to employ one's faculties, to actively play a role in the world's proceedings? To rescue princesses, to defend kingdoms, to enshrine dangerous powers against those who would abuse them? Or to bond with other worlds—Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, what have you—in peace, in war, in competition, in celebration, in dissent, in resolution? Or to hold close those who are most precious—brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, friends, fiancés, leaders, heroes?

Or does it mean something more?

Or something less?

Do heroes in This World architect their own destiny, or are they the instruments—the Trophies—of some Hand of Fate?

These questions have been, in one capacity or another, on the minds of Nintendo's farthest-thinking inhabitants for as long as they could remember. Yet until the Hylian knew of a world outside Hyrule; until Pokémon Trainers knew of worlds uninhabited by Pokémon; until Nintendo itself knew it was not alone either on Smash Planet or in the Smash Universe—until then, they were questions without any trace of an answer.

But whether or not one believed in a Hand of Fate, it is impossible to deny that it was a Hand that stirred things into motion, that catalyzed the disintegration of the amnesic shroud which had clouded Nintendo's memories of anything that might have come before its current conglomerate existence. Two Hands, to be exact.

* * *

 ** _The Trophies_**

* * *

When the giant white gloves known as Master Hand and Crazy Hand arose from the shadows of the Battlefields, they brought heroes and villains together for the first time—to fight each other in Smash Tournaments, first as 12, then 25 chosen competitors. But when Master Hand took his manipulative game to the next level, when he sought to collect his chosen warriors like trophies, the Nintendo World truly came together to battle not each other, but a common enemy. Strangers became friends, and foes became—at least temporarily—allies.

Some time after the second Smash Tournament, Master Hand employed metal clones he'd created from the Smashers' DNA to imprison several of the world's most eminent fighters: Mario, Link, Pikachu, Ness, and so on. He did this to provoke the rest of the tournament participants (the Original 25)—and the rest of the world, for that matter—into going after their friends.

Clusters of Smashers gathered to journey to Master Hand's Room, where they knew not what challenges awaited them. Some were driven by nobility, such as the parties headed by Luigi and Red. Others were drawn in by necessity, like Samus and Fox who suddenly found themselves without transport. And a few—particularly Bowser and Ganondorf—were fueled by a thirst for revenge.

Regardless of their motives, the Smashers slowly but surely made their way toward the Room, with the occasional unexpected delay caused by besieged allies, traitorous Nintendonians, or even unfortunate carelessness. At length, most of the Smashers converged on Fourside City. There, they were deceived into entering an ill-willed tournament whose strings were being pulled by the great puppeteer himself, Master Hand—just as he had carefully manipulated many of their journeys' events.

The tournament proved to be a conspiracy to capture the Original 25, and it nearly succeeded in ensnaring not only those on their way to the Battlefields, but those who had escaped the Room and united with the resistance group, the Smash Brothers, who had come to meet their friends in Fourside. They suffered heavy losses—including the death of their leader, Impa— because of the duplicity of individuals such as Wario, Waluigi, and Shadow the Hedgehog, but the Seven Star Spirits of the Mushroom Kingdom saved them from certain destruction with a splendorous shower of shooting stars. Still, the Wire Frames led by Crazy Hand (Master Hand's left-handed counterpart) left Fourside devastated and nearly destitute.

From the ashes of the city, the remaining Smash Brothers reemerged, brushed off their shoulders, and got to work. Led by Professor Elvin Gadd and Meta Knight, they recruited Nintendonians far and wide to their cause, found the two missing Smashers (Mewtwo and Dr. Mario), instituted a rigorous training program, and even sent a party to a different dimension—The Dimension Conflux—to seek out the five Dimension Relics. These relics, along with the Original 25, had been prophesied by a ghostly fortuneteller named Madame Clairvoya to be essential to the Smash Brothers' ultimate victory. But with the intervention of the metal doppelgangers, the heroes were only able to retrieve three of the relics (the Reset Button, the Life Shroom, and the Pencil), while Master Hand's minions made off with the Superstar and the Smash Ball.

Once the diverse armies of the Nintendo World had congregated in Fourside—many of them setting aside deep-rooted grudges and animosities to pursue a common cause—the united Smash Brothers had nothing left to do but to take the fight to Master Hand. With the help of Shadow, who had shown remorse for his mistakes and was anxious to help the Smash Brothers rescue his friend Sonic, they were as prepared as they could have been. They launched their assault on the Battlefields; they fought in the skies; they fought on the flashing purple plains; they fought in Master Hand's Room and in his fortress. The Boos, the Aparoids, the Starmen, the Pokémon crime lords, and the Space Pirates from Samus's Galactic Federation had all defected to Master Hand's side, but nearly everyone else fought the Wire Frames for the freedom of their world.

Professor E. Gadd fought his way to the lair of his evil cousin, Professor Ulysses Reeka. In that monstrous laboratory, he triumphed over the mad scientist with his opponent's own Magic Paintbrush, even with Gadd's Poltergust 3000 turned against him. Having defeated Master Hand's fiendish servant, Gadd put an end to Reeka's perverse experiments, perhaps the worst being his five mutated hybrid creatures: The Shadow Hand (Shadow Queen + Floormaster), Piranha Gohma (Petey Piranha + Gohma), Mr. Dragon Patch (Mr. Patch + Dogadon), Krackorock (Kracko + Regirock), and Aparidley (Ridley + Aparoid).

The Smashers triumphed over the rest of Master Hand's pawns—only for Master Hand to come down himself and activate the Smash Ball. Using this power, he and Crazy Hand subjected the Original 25 to a perilous fight to the finish in which only five of them could face the Hands at a time. Eventually, the Smashers came out victorious, but their enemy wasn't done with them yet.

Their true enemy was Master, a being known to Kirby as the Cloaked Nightmare, who had gone under the guise of Master Hand and Crazy Hand in his pursuit of collecting the world's greatest fighters and making Nintendo his personal playground. Nightmare had once belonged to a different dimension, part of a team of humans that was responsible for the Nintendo World's creation. However, he had wanted to change the rules to cause evil to triumph over good, and as a result, he had been banished to that very world he'd failed to change. Because of this curse, Nightmare dedicated himself to spreading fear and chaos wherever he went, creeping from the shadows and introducing evil into the hearts of many.

After telling his story, Nightmare used the Smash Rod to decimate the Smash Brothers' armies, leaving everyone as trophies—or corpses. But the Hand of Fate had other plans, for Mario, Link, Kirby, and Ness were inexplicably revived from their immobilized state and stood to face Nightmare once and for all. They defeated every monster and twisted form Nightmare threw at them with the additional aid of Dr. Mario, Meta Knight, Gadd, and Mewtwo, but then faced certain doom as Nightmare filled the Room with his destructive whirlwind and fell upon them. Yet at the last second, Kirby found himself saved by a stray Warpstar, which he rode into Nightmare's core, banishing the supervillain from This World forever.

The Nintendo World was left with a third of its population lost, but also with the promise of a united future. Dr. Mario departed to resume his role as Overseer of the Dimension Conflux—permanently this time. The Smash Brothers became a provisional interregional government. As they began to recover, they reached a state of peace and prosperity like none of them had ever experienced.

* * *

 ** _The Subspace Emissary_**

* * *

But within that first year of reconstruction, evil reared its ugly head once again. A new threat showed its face: the Subspace Army. Made up of a variety of hostile creatures, these forces sought to fulfill the will of their master, the Ancient Minister. Aided by Wario, Bowser, and Ganondorf (who had been released from the Sacred Realm by the enemy), the Ancient Minister directed a calculated plot to transform the Nintendo World's heroes into trophies once again; not only that, but he employed Gadd's own R.O.B. units to activate Subspace Bombs that would draw the world into the nether region of Subspace piece by piece.

The Smash Brothers, scattered across the world, gathered in small clusters once more to deal with the Subspace Army. With new Smash Tournaments taking place and Madame Clairvoya's prophecy fulfilled, the Original 25 were no longer the exclusively chosen heroes of Nintendo; many others joined them on this quest. Banding together, they defeated Wario, Ganondorf, and Bowser. They discovered that Mr. Game & Watch's essence had been manipulated to extract Shadow Bugs, fuzzy purple dots that formed the moldable substance of the Subspace Army.

The Ancient Minister was revealed to be Gadd's original R.O.B. prototype, who had been enslaved along with his fellow robots to serve what appeared to be a resurrected Master Hand. R.O.B. nearly sacrificed his life in order to help several Smash Brothers escape a particularly large Subspace Bomb.

At last, the Smashers converged on the gaping portal to Subspace left behind by the bomb. They dismantled the cannon that would have enveloped the rest of the Nintendo World, and they entered Subspace itself to confront the source of their troubles. They found that Master Hand was indeed behind the campaign—but not in the way they expected.

It was some kind of reanimated—though not entirely self-willed—version of Master Hand. But each of the white fingers was controlled by a golden chain, all of which were held like puppet strings by a strange being that looked somewhat like a neon blue Wire Frame.

Tabuu.

The immaterial man unfurled what appeared to be two radioactive butterfly wings and unleashed his secret weapon: the Off Wave. This transformed all of the Smashers back into trophies, reminiscent of what Nightmare had once done with the Smash Rod. Then, a few of the Smashers who had been wearing King Dedede's peculiar badges were revived. They traversed the Great Maze—a conglomeration of the various pieces of the Nintendo World that had been taken into Subspace—and freed the rest of the Smashers.

They would have fallen to Tabuu's devastating Off Wave attack a second time had Sonic the Hedgehog not intervened, shattering the being's luminous wings and giving them a fair fight. The battle that followed was terribly close, but finally, Tabuu was defeated and destroyed. Link and Zelda subsequently sealed Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm once again, and everything seemed to return to normal.

It was only afterward that Kirby and Professor E. Gadd realized who this Tabuu had really been: He was none other than Nightmare (or what was left of him), who had been trapped in Subspace after his first defeat and had sought to bring the rest of the Nintendo World down with him.

* * *

 ** _The Forgotten Rights of Passage_**

* * *

Six months later—one full year since Nightmare's original defeat—the Smashers (minus Dr. Mario and Ganondorf) gathered along Nintendo's western shore to witness the arrival of a strange being on a wooden raft: L.O.G., or Lord of Games. Introducing himself as an ambassador from the Microsoft World and a representative of a mysterious organization called RareWare, he encouraged Nintendo's leaders to organize parties to reestablish relations with the estranged Sony and Microsoft mainlands across the sea.

After much debate, Professor E. Gadd sent Nintendonian emissaries to Sony and to several distant islands, hoping to restore friendly relations as L.O.G. had suggested. In planning these expeditions, he consulted a strange historical text in the library of his colleague Professor Frankly, which gave precise cartographical details of Smash Planet. In addition, though much was muddled beyond legibility, it also appeared to describe a worldwide conflict known as the Copyright Wars, which only a few Nintendonians directly connected with RareWare had any memory of. The source of this book was unknown, but it proved remarkably accurate, and its description of the Copyright Wars was confirmed as more of Nintendo's shrouded memories began to resurface.

During this time of preparation, Red followed Pikachu through the Veridian Forest—only to find his starter Pokémon brutally murdered by Metal Mr. Game & Watch, who along with Metal Mario were the sole survivors of Master Hand's creations. Yet they now appeared to be acting independent of their former master with unknown motives.

 _The King's Krystal_ embarked toward Sony under the direction of Captain Tetra. Red's long-lost father, Quentin, saved the ship and its crew from a maelstrom of sea monsters, and began teaching his son the ascetic ways of Pokémon Spirit Bonds, which allowed him to summon any Pokémon at any time in any location through his one-of-a-kind Omni Ball. Meanwhile, Young Link woke up one day to find his body cartoonish—a Toon Link, as it were—possessing memories of the Great Sea he couldn't explain.

Pit and Quill were deployed to investigate Atari Island, where they found that Professor U. Reeka had survived and was plotting to create a massive bomb that would sink the entire Nintendonian continent. Quill was shot down, while Pit barely escaped with his life to report their findings.

Back in Dreamland, the Smash Brothers were suddenly attacked by Microsoft's Spartan and Seran forces. Bowser and King Dedede headed the siege's defense along with King K. Rool, who was cruelly slain by the Master Chief's titanic flying frigate. Master Chief hinted that all he and Microsoft had done had been under the direction of an entity called the Great Moon Deity, who they looked to as their greatest source of power and protection. The Smash Brothers then barely managed to drive the Microsians off with the timely arrival of the Pokémon armies.

 _The King's Krystal_ reached Shadow Moses Island off the northern coast of Sony. There, they encountered Solid Snake, who gave them a brief history of the First Copyright Wars. In essence, the war was fought over a land dispute between Nintendo and Microsoft concerning DK Isle, Timber's Island, and the Isle o' Hags. All of these belonged to RareWare, an organization dedicated to achieving excellence independent from any of the three larger worlds. When some kingdoms on Microsoft's own mainland seceded to join RareWare as well and showed a greater partiality toward Nintendo than their native continent, Microsoft's highest leaders declared war on Nintendo under the leadership of the Master Chief. Sony was forcibly enlisted as Microsoft's allies. Nintendo nearly fell to the combined armies of both worlds (DK Isle being completely destroyed), but they were spared during the final battle by a strange army of Fighting Polygons which interceded and drove their attackers away, leading to an uneasy truce.

Snake agreed to help Nintendo reconnect with the rest of Sony in order to resolve whatever enmity remained between them and Microsoft. They traveled to Sonic's homeland of Mobius and used the Chaos Emeralds to travel throughout the Sony World and recruit its heroes (known as the Sonian All-Stars) and peoples to their cause. Eventually, most of Sony was united. But when Master Chief showed up at Candy Chateau on the western coast of Sony under the pretense of peaceful negotiations, the ensuing ambush resulted in the destruction of _The King's Krystal_ , the capture of many, and the escape of the rest in a giant whale Pokémon, leaving just a few Nintendonians behind with the All-Stars.

The escapees ended up on Atari Island, where they followed a mischievous Galaga into the black void filling the island's center. There, they found Atari's diverse residents enslaved by the Space Invaders. The castaways met up with the Atarian hero Rocketman, and together they organized a coup, overthrowing the Space Invader Queen and chasing Professor U. Reeka off the island along with his destructive experiments.

Back on Nintendo, Gadd and L.O.G. gathered the rest of the Smash Brothers and persuaded Wario and Waluigi to construct a massive Ark, which would bear them all to the Islands and then to Microsoft to see that these Second Copyright Wars be brought to a definitive end. They reached Timber's Island and learned from the sole survivor, Pipsy, of the death of its leader, Taj, and the capture by Microsoft of most of its inhabiting racers.

Undaunted, they proceeded to the Isle o' Hags, where they launched an extensive strike against the occupying Microsians. Joined by their friends on Atari, they liberated the island from the oppression of the resurrected witch Gruntilda—at great cost, not the least of which being the shaman Mumbo Jumbo.

Those who had been captured at Candy Chateau were transported to Microsoft and tried and sentenced in Reach's capital of New Alexandria. Joanna Dark, a former member of RareWare, broke them out, and they commandeered a Spartan vessel and escaped to the Enchanted Kingdom—the last RareWare sanctuary on the Microsian continent. Along the way, they passed the burning remains of Joanna's home, the Carrington Institute, but to avoid discovery by the Spartans, they flew on to the Enchanted Kingdom's castle. There, they met the elfin princess Kameo, who agreed to help them infiltrate Microsoft and take down both Professor U. Reeka and the Great Moon Deity. According to Ryu Hayabusa, who had become an ally to the Smash Brothers after his life had been saved by Kirby, both of these targets would be found at the Moon Deity's Palace in the canyon kingdom of Vigoor.

The final assault on Microsoft commenced on several fronts. Gadd deployed a squad led by Bomberman to defuse Reeka's bomb beneath the continental ridge of the Kongo Jungle. However, despite their best efforts, they succeeded only in springing a trap that released an underwater army of R.A.W.s (Reeka's militant variation of Gadd's R.O.B.s) and began a 10-minute countdown toward Nintendo's utter deluge.

From the Isle o' Hags, the Smash Brothers launched their attack on Microsoft's northern coast near the submerged city of Rapture. They triumphed over the Microsian armies, and with the timely arrival of the Cornerian Fleet, they decommissioned the Seran superweapon known as the Hammer of Dawn. On the eastern front, Sony's forces contended against more Microsians, including Commander Shepard's Edenese spaceship, _Normandy_. Princess Peach's diplomatic expertise, combined with the projected memories of her sentient parasol, Perry, convinced Shepard that Nintendo was not responsible for the Fighting Polygons' recent attacks on Eden Prime and other Microsian territories, and with the aid of the Mushroom Kingdom's Star Spirits (again), they stopped another superweapon—known as the Reaper—from obliterating Sony's armies.

The heroes in the Enchanted Kingdom made their way down to Vigoor and infiltrated the Moon Deity's Palace. Those who ventured inside confronted Reeka and his R.A.W.s and endeavored to destroy the mad scientist's Deconstructor machine, which was responsible for sending the signal to sink the Nintendonian continent and had already begun doing so. Try as they might, however, they couldn't get the best of either Reeka or his robots. All seemed lost until two unexpected figures appeared and destroyed both Reeka and the Deconstructor: Metal Mr. Game & Watch and Metal Mario, who just as promptly vanished once more.

Outside the palace, Diddy Kong was forced to confront his traitorous friend, Conker the Squirrel, who had been working as an agent for Master Chief the whole time and had brought about much grief for those who had suffered from his snitching. Though they had been friends since racing together on Timber's Island, Diddy now found Conker maniacal and bloodthirsty, and he was forced to fight the gun-toting rodent to the death. Then, once Conker's last murderous attempt plunged the squirrel fatally into the Pit of Obaba, Diddy had little time to rest before the Great Moon Deity revealed his true form to him.

Wizpig. The giant swine who had long sought to conquer worlds through racing but had been thwarted by the racers of Timber's Island and then exiled to the moon. He had come to possess godlike powers in his exile, and he had used them to destroy the greatest villains of most of Microsoft's regions, thereby winning their loyalty. Wizpig had spearheaded the Copyright Wars through the Master Chief and other Microsian leaders so he could extend his porcine grip over all of Smash Planet and conquer it first through blood, then through racing.

Wizpig transported Diddy to the Catacombs of Sera and challenged him to one final race. But this time, even though Diddy was about to come out on top, Wizpig interceded and put an end to it—both the race and Diddy's life. He then used his powers to teleport all the combatants on all fronts of the war to a location just off the northern coast of Reach, and there demanded that all worlds submit to his control. Donkey Kong, incensed by Diddy's death and unwilling to listen to Gadd's words of caution after their relationship had become strained, led other Smashers in a rushed attack on Wizpig, at which point the latter began demonstrating his terrible destructive power, which was far too great for any of his enemies to overcome.

Back in Vigoor, Samus, Snake, and Captain Falcon made their way through the warring fairies, Tediz, and Spartans to the Falcon Flyer, and they sped like a missile into the heart of the Spartan Frigate. They fought their way toward Master Chief's command bridge, but on the way up, Snake and Falcon nearly came to blows over the issue of Samus's affections, and Snake continued alone to the top. He hoped to avenge a fallen friend, Meryl Silverburgh, whom Master Chief had murdered during the First Copyright Wars. Snake fought fiercely, but met more than his match in the Chief's superhuman strength.

Right when Master Chief was about to run Snake through with his Energy Sword, Samus and Captain Falcon came to the Sonian's rescue, and together they subdued Master Chief and forced him to lead them toward the escape pods. However, at that point the Frigate had been teleported to the great gathering where Wizpig was now raining his deathly powers upon all who opposed him. Due to some last-minute wit on Wario's part, the Ark was preserved from a devastating blast, using a Hylian Switch Hook to literally swap positions with the Frigate, leaving the Spartan vessel to take the full brunt of the blast.

Master Chief used trickery to escape his captors and take the last pod himself, leaving the three of them to die in the crumbling ship—though not before Samus accused him of dishonoring the memory of Cortana, a fallen friend of his own. While Snake and Samus survived the fall, Captain Falcon was trapped by a broken ceiling piece and went down with the ship.

The Chief returned to his Deity's side, but despite himself, Samus's accusation had struck him deeply. And watching Wizpig crush innocent Timber's Island racers, he finally saw Wizpig for the beast he truly was. Master Chief leapt out of his pod and beheaded the Great Moon Deity, putting an official end to the Second Copyright Wars.

When all had settled down and Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft had begun to mend their broken bonds, a tribunal was held in the airborne Edenese city of the Citadel to decide the fate of Master Chief and other Microsian leaders. Even though the Chief had single-handedly ended the war in the Smash Brothers' favor, he and others still had plenty of war crimes to answer for. When the council decided to spare Master Chief and reinstate him as leader of Microsoft, L.O.G. spontaneously Deleted him, causing his body to digitize and go to a virtual Recycle Bin in the ambassador's computer monitor head.

L.O.G. revealed that he was the brother of Nightmare, a fellow designer who had likewise been exiled to the universe his team had created—not because he wished to cause evil and fear to triumph as Nightmare did, but because he sought to distort natural rules and engineer imbalanced, never-ending chaos through his cunning manipulations. L.O.G. was the true mastermind behind everything: Wizpig's ascent to power; Gruntilda's resurrection; RareWare's interference with the peace between Nintendo and Microsoft; and much more. In essence, he was responsible for both Copyright Wars. Being able to calculate the future and modify memories, he had caused all on Smash Planet to forget not only the preexisting conditions of their worlds' existence, but the circumstances of the First Copyright Wars that rightly laid the blame not on Microsoft or Nintendo, but on him and Nightmare secretly manipulating the worlds in a perverse series of war games. Some forgotten memories created Memory Paradoxes, which could modify the present reality (as evidenced by Grunty's temporary return). In other words, L.O.G. was the reason no one knew— _really_ knew—how and why their worlds had come to be, and what roles they were designed to play in it. He did reveal, however, that the four mainlands of Smash Planet—Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and Atari—could be arranged to form the Smash symbol of a circle with an off-centered cross, providing some insight into what the symbol represented. He also mocked them for being nothing but characters in a universe of video games, puppets with programmed destinies who had no real choice and no real life.

In the ensuing struggle, L.O.G. Deleted most of the council, though Ratchet's magnetic OmniWrench did irreparable damage to his monitor. The remaining heroes were brought inside the "LOG Box," where they were further tested but managed to cause terminal damage to L.O.G.'s brain. Finally, L.O.G. transformed into a giant meteor-like sphere and propelled himself in a desperate attempt to take the Citadel and all the heroes down with him. In what appeared to be their final moments, the few who remained inside the LOGosphere called upon their Nintendonian deities, who miraculously came to their aid: Lady Palutena of Skyworld; the Star Spirits; the three Triforce Goddesses; Gotoh the Divine Dragon; and Mew, once Red finally figured out how to channel his Spirit Bond through the Omni Ball. L.O.G. was brought to an ignominious end at the hands of Rocketman's rocket fuel, the final trigger appropriately being pulled by Banjo.

And so Smash Planet was at peace. Many questions still remained—many of them existential—but with friendly bonds between their neighboring worlds, the Smash Brothers began a new era of prosperity, and the general sentiment was that there was no obstacle, no villain, no evil they couldn't defeat together.

* * *

 ** _The Space Pirate War_**

* * *

While Smash Planet was dealing with the Second Copyright Wars, the broader Smash Universe outside it was engaged in a serious conflict of its own.

Space Pirates of varying degrees of villainy had always infested many parts of intergalactic space, but never had they come forth with such unorthodox coordination as they did at this time. The bulk of the attackers hailed from the Galactic Federation (Samus Aran's bounty hunting territory), the F-Zero Federation (the late Captain Falcon's stomping grounds apart from Mute City on Smash Planet), and the Lylat System (home to Team Star Fox and the Cornerian Fleet).

Within the Galactic Federation, there appeared to be a schism among the guild of bounty hunters who had once come to the Smash Brothers' aid in the War of the Hands. The dividing issue, as far as the Galactic Federation could tell, was over their loyalty to the Federation's employment versus other lesser known patrons. In any case, a number of them were soon conferring with the leaders of that galaxy's Space Pirates (its leadership these days was unclear with the loss of Ridley and Mother Brain). Then, the raids and terrorist attacks against Federation space stations, colonies, and fleets began, plunging them into war.

In the F-Zero Federation, even less was known of the circumstances leading to the rebellion of Samurai Goroh and his posse of bandits. All anyone knew was that the former colleague and rival of Captain Falcon had left Smash Planet's Fourside Tournament full of rage, and he had gathered low-lives throughout the sector and begun similar attacks on major F-Zero locations such as Port Town as well as the F-Zero Federation's military centers. More space-traveling miscreants had crawled out of the woodwork than the Federation could have ever anticipated.

Lylat's rebellions, on the other hand, were actually much more straightforward. General Scales, the Saurian tyrant who had been ousted by Star Fox once upon a time, was out for revenge against the Cornerian government and had amassed as many of the more aggressive dinosaurs from Sauria and outlaws from the Sargasso Hideout as he could—somehow gathering enough to wage a formidable war on the Lylat System's peacekeepers.

In and of themselves, however, each sector's individual struggles would have been easily self-contained; it was when the bounty hunters, Space Pirates, bandits, and outlaws joined forces that all Hell broke loose. The two Federations and the Cornerian Fleet were stretched to their limits and forced to band together—even across such vast distances that separated their sectors—in order to fend off the piratic legions. For a long while, none of them could spare any additional aid to Smash Planet, even in its dire struggles as Professor E. Gadd sent out a call for help.

With time, however, the united law enforcement of all three sectors began to gain headway against its enemies. During a major battle around Elysia, the rebellious bounty hunters were scattered or destroyed. On the uninhabited marsh planet of Synobazz, Samurai Goroh and his goons were subdued and taken into custody. And in one final, massive battle around the Lylatan planet of Sauria, Star Fox confronted General Scales's legions once and for all—with the special help of the bounty hunter Gandrayda, Fox's Saurian girlfriend, Krystal, and even the PSI children Paula and Poo from Earth.

With that victory, the Space Pirate War came to a close, though investigations into the conflict's roots remained ongoing. Still, what came out of the war was a stronger bond between the sectors of the outer Smash Universe similar to that of the Smash Brothers, although more of a general allegiance than an actual consolidated government.

And so, for the next year, the universe was at peace—or so it seemed. Yet to many who had been born and raised with the vastness of space at their fingertips, something subtle, something unnatural, something intangible and inexplicable had begun to stir, leaving their endless worlds in a state of strange, passive unrest. It was like the quiet before the storm—an invisible storm. An unbeatable storm. An apocalyptic storm. The essential core, the very heart of the Smash Universe was about to be shaken—and to undergo a test it was designed to fail.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** As indicated in the title, this story is indeed a direct continuation of _The_ _Trophies_ and _The Forgotten Rights of Passage_. While this sequel will certainly be found most meaningful to those who have read its predecessors, the synopsis provided here should be sufficient for anyone who wishes to jump aboard. If you are interested in learning about the events in the synopsis in greater detail, however, I highly recommend reading the two previous installments first.

Also, I have created maps for aid in visualizing the geography of this story. Among these maps are:

-the space map of the Smash Universe

-the global map of Smash Planet

-the Nintendo World

-the Sony World

-the Microsoft World

Although I cannot directly link to them here, all you have to do is Google search "Bob_Snicket AND Photobucket", which should bring up my Photobucket user account. There, you will find the maps easily accessible and, I hope, useful and interesting.

I would greatly appreciate feedback both positive and constructively critical so that I can continue refining my craft.

Thanks for reading!


	2. Prologue

" _A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory;_

 _A far-off memory that's like a scattered dream._

 _I wanna line the pieces up:_

 _Yours…and mine."_

 _~Sora_

* * *

 **Prologue**

* * *

 **Keyblade Graveyard**

 **Disney Universe**

* * *

 ** _B_** lack lightning crackled across the blood-red sky, which was shimmering and warping like a watercolored sunset. A gale-force wind whipped up and down the ragged gray slopes, whistling through the hilts of thousands of ornate Keyblades which stuck haphazardly out of the rocky ground like Gothic headstones, their once-beautiful colors and unique, elegantly crafted blades having long since dulled to morose shades of gray.

Standing across from his nemesis on a plateau that overlooked the rest of the graveyard, however, Sora found the adverse weather conditions to be the least of his worries. The angry wind whipped through his spiky nutmeg hair, ruffling his zippered black jacket and matching baggy shorts, chilling his thin body to the bone. His hand clenched tightly around his rather simplistic, yellow-hilted Keyblade as he gritted his teeth and fixed his ocean-blue eyes on Master Xehanort.

"This ends now!" he yelled.

The corner of the old man's mouth lifted in a bemused smile, his flickering orange eyes aflame. Though his only visible hair was a silver goatee situated on his tanned chin and he possessed every sign of an aging human, Xehanort's composure emanated the energy of a phoenix reborn, the doomful glow and demonic shadows of the sky adding to the effect. His dark leathery cloak (scarlet on the inside), light tunic, and white-gloved hands went well with his ghastly, serrated Keyblade that featured a ram's head with soulless sapphire eyes. With an arm behind his back, he pointed his weapon at the boy.

"That it does, boy," he said hoarsely. Power had done little for his voice. "Let's see what your heart is made of, then, shall we?"

Without further delay, Sora rushed forward and swung the Kingdom Key at Xehanort's body. The two blades interlocked as Xehanort effortlessly blocked Sora's strike.

They pushed against each other for several seconds, though Sora had a dreadful feeling that Xehanort was toying with him. After all, the man now possessed the full power of Kingdom Hearts. No one else had been able to stand up to him…but Sora had to. This was their last chance.

With a cry, he leapt backward and somersaulted though the air, casting fire magic from the Kingdom Key as he spun. He landed only to find Xehanort casually shaking the trailing flames off the edge of his cloak—not laughing, but his wicked grin revealing an almost pitying supremacy.

Xehanort raised his Keyblade to the bloody sky, conducting a bolt of black lightning that projected off the tip straight into Sora. The boy screamed in agony and collapsed to his knees; that one bolt had rendered him helpless, all his energy instantly depleted by the savage electricity like a full thirty seconds of Darth Sidious's Force Lightning.

The old man slowly sauntered up to Sora, his boots as black as his heart. "If it's any consolation, Sora," he said, bringing back his blade to run it through the boy's chest, "your world brought this fate upon itself; I am merely effecting the reckoning justice requires."

Sora was too weak to respond; all he could think of now was not his own death, but all the people he'd failed: Kairi…Riku…King Mickey….

A large shadow descended from above, enveloping Sora and cutting off Xehanort's final death blow. It forced the man to stumbled backward and almost lose his balance, and then, just as soon as it had come, the shadow vanished back into the sky.

Xehanort narrowed his eyes and pointed his Keyblade at the ascending mass. A concourse of black lightning zigzagged toward it but seemed to have no effect; where the hulking shadow had once been, a dimensional tear quickly sealed itself off, leaving nothing behind for the lightning to strike.

"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE JUDGMENT, SORA!" Xehanort's body shook with rage—but a confident rage. Then, almost instantly, he calmed down, smiling again. "Whatever world you have fled to…whatever allies might be protecting you…I will find you. And then, _their_ hearts will betray them also."

He made a mental note to figure out where Sora had gone. He wasn't too worried; with the power of Kingdom Hearts at his fingertips, it wouldn't take long. For now, he turned back to behold the fruits of his labors, content with overseeing the completion of his work.


	3. Chapter 1: How Far We've Come

Book 1

Peace in Our Time?

* * *

" _I feel to bring to your attention a mystery: What is now occurring as we speak has never before come to pass—that is, heroes and villains of separate worlds crossing boundaries and uniting in a single purpose. Things are changing, and they will never be the same…though to what end, I cannot say…"_

 _ **~The Great Deku Tree**_

* * *

Chapter 1: How Far We've Come

* * *

 **Gerudo Desert**

 **Nintendo World**

* * *

 ** _A_** solitary figure slowly made its way across the unfriendly expanse of the arid Gerudo Valley. The angry desert winds whipped about the figure's loose black robes, his head wrapped in cloth to protect it from the stinging sand. The sun glared down at him, though the man's dark skin visible around his even darker eyes seemed unaffected by the heat.

He walked for hours on end without any apparent signs of fatigue. He ignored the rather vicious Leevers that would occasionally burrow out of the ground and approach him, but sharply recoil once they felt the man's powerful, familiar aura. He walked past the rocky canyon that led to the suspended bridge hanging over a dry ravine, leading to the grassy fields of Hyrule. He even dismissed the crumbling fortresses of the Gerudo civilization, which was composed entirely of women save for a single male born to them once every hundred years.

At length, he reached his destination: a low-mouthed cave that was scarcely visible to the naked eye save for those who knew what to look for. He ducked into the crag, which almost immediately opened out into a reasonably spacious cave—at least, large enough for him to stand up to his full seven feet of height.

Finally out of the sandstorm, he unwrapped the cloth around his head, revealing his prominent Gerudo features: the red mane-like hair; the saturated olive skin; the long jutting nose.

Ganondorf, the King of Evil, proceeded toward the back of the cave until he reached a small circular space at the end. At first glance it appeared completely empty, but he knew what to do. He stepped forward and placed a large hand on the rough cave wall and closed his eyes, channeling flares of purple energy along his arm and into the sandstone. After a full minute of this, he stepped back and stared at the wall expectantly.

A ring of shimmering black magic appeared on the wall, causing the surface within to blacken and ripple like petroleum oil. The black liquid then smoothed itself and became clear like glass, revealing another dark-skinned figure on the other side. Only, this man's skin was not ethnically dark, but deepened from age and experience.

Ganondorf inclined his head—not in subjection as he had once pretended to Master Hand during the era of the Subspace Emissary, but in an acknowledgement of respect.

"Master Xehanort."

The expression of the old man in the mirror remained emotionless. "Lord Ganondorf. I trust you are acclimating well to your native country. Now that I have brought you out of the Sacred Realm—permanently this time—I expect you to fulfill your role as we discussed in that empty void."

"Of course," Ganondorf said. "Presuming you fulfill _your_ end of the bargain and leave me to rule Hyrule. I have had other allies in the past with…conflicts of interest. But Hyrule and the Triforce are all I desire, and I ask for nothing more or less."

"You will indeed have your autonomous kingdom, my friend," Xehanort said. "As I have explained, my ambitions are not to rule and reign, but to reveal and resurface the darkness within every heart. That is how I feed my power. I have no interest in governing worlds—only in bringing out the truth within each of them."

Ganondorf nodded; it made sense enough. But one thing bothered him. "If these Kingdom Hearts you speak of have made you so powerful," he said, "then why do you turn to me?"

"Because," Xehanort said. "Experience in other universes has proven to me that one must choose his servants with the utmost care. In the Disney Universe, from which I hail, I employed an elite group called Organization XIII. Despite their usefulness, however, they were rife with internal contention, and some even softened to the point of betrayal."

The old man brought up his clenched fist as if to express his resolve. "Here, I seek only the darkest of hearts, whose weakness has been subdued so totally that they may as well be Heartless." He peered closer at Ganondorf. "I see into your heart, Ganondorf of the Gerudos. Nothing… _nothing_ escapes my perception. And yours is as black, and as ancient, as any I have ever seen. Together, we will bring about the Smash Universe's true destiny."

Ganondorf felt the pulsing heat of the Triforce of Power glowing on the back of his left hand. And he looked back up at Xehanort and smiled.

"You perceive well."

* * *

 **Cosmo Terminal**

 **F-Zero Federation Sector**

* * *

Cosmo Terminal was essentially a space station-sized elevator leading from a small moon up to a complex satellite array, which made possible most of the fastest remote communication within the F-Zero Sector. It vaguely resembled a giant stick of steel licorice, except the interlacing layers crossed much more intricately than a licorice spiral, twisting through and across the central elevator as well as along the perimeter of the protective plates and scaffolding that formed a cylinder around it. The terminal whirred with industry, red and white lights flashing, entire layers gyrating like cogs or fans or wheels (no one except the architects really knew what all the parts actually did—it was that sophisticated).

Some of the panels were in fact screens, portraying a variety of bright visuals: crowds of tens of thousands watching the race from gathering points back on Smash Planet; ads from sponsors ranging from WarioWare to Cornerian Fleet recruiters; enormous depictions of Captain Falcon's memorialized figure, saluting back at them as if he were still alive.

A pair of bespectacled, cloud-mounted Koopas known as Lakitus were conversing outside the scaffolding near the satellite array at the top, both with fishing rods in hand.

"I'm tellin' ya, Lakilester; ain't no way your old pal the plumber gonna win this thing. There're too many professionals in the runnin' this time, Mushroom Kingdom or otherwise. You'll probably be fishin' him outta space any second now."

Lakilester, whose spectacles were actually shades and who sported a single tuft of neon green hair, smiled at his friend's ignorance.

"You don't know Mario like I do, Lakilarry. The two of us once took down Bowser together—even when that uncool Koopa King had the power of the Star Rod. Mario might not be the fastest Chargin' Chuck in the galaxy, man, but he's got guts and wits about him that'll do in whatever speed racers dare go up against him."

"He _is_ a bold one, ain't he?" Lakilarry conceded. "I mean, that move with the Chain Chomp during the Quarterfinals in Dante City, that was some gnarly—"

"Yahoo!"

Lakilarry didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, for at that moment, the subject of their conversation came charging around the curving edge of the plated racetrack, his go-kart's speed creating a nonsensical gust of air (yes, in space) that sent the Lakitu spinning a good distance away from his friend.

But Mario wasn't alone. Close behind him, two other racers followed: Kirby and Pikachu. All were in generic racing karts that matched each competitor's color scheme, but in the Smash Planet Grand Prix, each of them was also allowed a Special Item in addition to the traditional Mario Kart items that could be collected from the colorful "?" blocks scattered throughout the track.

Mario thought the Mushroom booster he'd just used would give him a safe lead, but that was before Pikachu activated his Special Item: the Lightning Bolt.

Although more broadly accessible in traditional Mario Kart races, in this tournament Pikachu claimed sole access to this item, which struck all the other racers and caused them to become tiny for a solid fifteen seconds.

"Pikaaaa!" Pikachu's cheeks sparked with exhilaration as he took the lead, leaving the other eleven far behind.

At the back of the pack and further down the spiraling track, however, Wario had been prepared for just such an occasion. Having sponsored this tournament through his lucrative tech company, WarioWare, he'd had a secret chip planted in each of the karts that told him exactly what items the drivers possessed at any given time. His kart also happened to give him immediate access to any item he desired; he'd only stayed behind this long—until the final lap—to make it seem less suspicious when he left his unsuspecting victims in the dust.

"Heh heh…" He pulled out a Star as soon as he caught sight of Pikachu's Lightning Bolt. "It's a-Wario time!"

In the middle of the pack, Banjo & Kazooie (racing in a single kart) struggled to keep up with Rocketman and Master Chief ahead of them, and ahead of Falco and Crash Bandicoot behind them. The RareWare pair grabbed an Item Box, which scrolled through a slot-machine-like blur of possibilities until finally settling on their Special Item: Grenade Eggs.

But before they could celebrate, they heard a dreaded sound draw closer from behind—the deathly jingle of the Star.

"WHOA!" the shrunken Crash Bandicoot cried out in a high-pitched voice as Wario's rainbow-flashing figure barreled into him, knocking him over the edge for one of the Lakitus to fetch. Falco yelled as he succumbed to the same fate.

"Kazooie, use it!" Banjo hollered as Wario made for them next, his jagged mustache twitching with pleasure. Fortunately, the Lightning Bolt's effects expired at that moment, returning them to normal size and allowing them to use their item.

Kazooie complied and ejected a Grenade Egg out of her rear end, which bounced toward Wario and met with a loud explosion (yes, also in space).

"Yeah!" Kazooie shook her tail feathers in celebration. "Suck it, you—frick frick _frick frick FRICK_!"

Wario's invincible kart proceeded through the blast unaffected, pummeling bear and bird out of the competition—for by the time they and Wario's other victims recovered, there would be no hope of catching up in the half lap that remained.

Rocketman and the Master Chief, having more time to prepare for Wario's rampage, both purposely spun out to either side of the sloping track, allowing Wario to go on unhindered.

Wario's Star power depleted, but his grin didn't; he still had plenty more up his sleeve. The track was now about to curve up and over the top of the communications array and plunge them into a straight artificial gravity drop toward the finish line at the base of the moon below. He generated a trio of Red Shells, which homed in on Samus, Dixie Kong, and Sonic the Hedgehog, each of whom he passed in turn. That left only the leaders: Mario, Kirby, and Pikachu.

He came up quickly behind both Mario and Kirby, now pulling out his Special Item: the Wario Waft. Kirby was still intent on trying to keep up with Pikachu's distant figure, which was about to round the peak, but at the last moment, Mario caught a preliminary whiff of Wario's stench. And there was only one thing that could mean. He slammed the brakes and allowed Wario to pass just before the Wario Waft blasted Kirby straight off the summit, requiring three of the quickest Lakitus to fetch him before he spun out of orbit.

Mario and Wario, meanwhile, made a stomach-turning hairpin over the array and began their dead drop, picking up speed as the track split off into the segment of the race known as the Trident. It divided into three separate tracks that formed a triangular prism around each other.

"Out of the way, loser!" Wario shoved his kart into Mario's, knocking him onto the right-hand track where there would be no Item Boxes for him to collect. Wario continued down the center track while a stray banana peel caused Pikachu to spin out onto the left track. By the time the Pokémon was back up to speed, the three of them were neck and neck, each track at a 60-degree angle to the other two.

"I'm a-gonna win!" Wario crowed as he conjured a Golden Mushroom, which would give him an infinite number of boosts until he reached the moon below.

But then his item flickered and vanished from his hand, accompanied by a ghostly cackle.

"Wha?"

At the same time, a Boo floated over to Mario and proffered him the Golden Mushroom. Mario took it gratefully but was confused. He hadn't used a Ghost.

Then he realized it wasn't a Boo at all—it was Kirby. Ghost Kirby, who had swallowed an Item Box and absorbed the power of the resulting Boo item. Apparently, in doing so, the puffball had been able to steal whichever item he chose and deliver it to whomever he pleased.

Kirby winked conspiratorially and, as he vanished, left a whispered word.

 _"Wait…"_

Mario was as confused as ever, but he knew he had little time to act before Wario cranked out another Star or something and outraced both him and Pikachu to the finish line. The falling sensation was beyond dizzying, and even though Mario was well accustomed to crazy racetracks by now, he began to feel nauseous as they sped down a track that was originally designed for F-Zero racers. He made up his mind to squeeze the Golden Mushroom and make a go for it…

And then he heard a noise. A noise that was much worse than the Star jingle; a noise that had been a source of hatred and vengeful grudges for as long as Mario Kart races had existed; a noise that resembled the blast of one of Jeff's weaponized bottle rockets.

The Blue Shell.

Suddenly, Kirby's last word of warning made sense. Once again, Mario slammed his foot on the brakes, Pikachu and Wario speeding past him as they approached the moon. And sure enough, five seconds later the legendary winged shell (which was later revealed to have been deployed by a vengeful Kazooie) flew over Mario's head and quickly closed the distance to its target: First Place.

The resulting explosion of bright blue flames engulfed both Wario and Pikachu, for their alignment had been too close for the Blue Shell to call, and in any case, whichever one it struck would consume them both, so it figured giving Wario the worse end of the deal couldn't go wrong.

"Wa-hoo!"

Mario didn't even turn to watch Wario's flabbergasted face as he rushed past him and Pikachu, the Golden Mushroom propelling him faster than ever, golden sparks cascading from his rear wheels. He did pause in his triumph, however, to appreciate one particular screen display on a panel above him: Diddy Kong, to whose memory the entire Grand Prix had been dedicated along with Captain Falcon's.

Mario tipped his cap in respect and then leaned forward as the Trident finally converged into one wide track that curved up to level with the moon's surface. And then there was the checkered finish line, with no one physically there due to the uninhabitable environment, but in his mind's eye he could see Princess Peach and Luigi and Yoshi and all the rest cheering him on. The Championship Race awaited him…

And yet, a silver speck glinted a few dozen yards in front of the finish line, appearing rooted in place like a statue. Mario was going far too fast to redirect his course as he careened straight toward the figure, and he cried out as he tried to swerve out of the way but ended up hitting it sidelong.

Time seemed to slow down. His kart rolled and bounced at least a dozen times, and he just managed to eject himself onto the metal track before it went up in flames.

His vision double, tripled. His brain felt like it had been struck with a meat cleaver, his senses buzzing in and out of functionality. His head was damp, probably with blood, but as he lay sprawled on the track, his curiosity gave him just enough strength to raise his head and glimpse the obstacle that had been his undoing.

Metal Mario's metallic features stared at him blankly; if it weren't for the being's slight movements, it might very well have been a statue. Mario had met this entity before on two other occasions, and neither of them had been friendly.

But this time was different. The doppelganger stepped up to its likeness, each step clanging like Link's Magnetic Boots. It stopped until Mario was looking directly into its pupilless eyes. Then Mario heard a voice in his head. A strange, staticky voice.

 _"The Third Brother approaches."_

Both it and Mario ignored the other racers shooting past them and across the finish line. Mario wanted to respond, but just as it had during their first encounter, his brain instructed him otherwise. His eyes unwillingly fluttered shut as Metal Mario turned and leapt away, and then all was dark.

* * *

 **Gadd's Laboratory**

 **Fourside City**

* * *

Professor Elvin Gadd's wizened old face broke out in his characteristic toothy grin. "Shouldn't you be watching the race, lad—or should I call you President?"

Meta Knight's glowing yellow eyes were fixed on Gadd as he took in the scientist's wheelchair; his tangled bedcovers; his neglected Piranha Plant; and the hundreds of sheets of paper strewn across his desk, his dresser, his television, and his floor. If the Star Warrior didn't know any better, he'd think he was visiting a loopy old geezer in a retirement home.

Which, unfortunately, didn't appear to be too far from the truth.

"I confess, Professor," he said, shaking his head, "I tire of the bright lights and fanfare of the kart races and the sporting events and the party boards. Though I am glad our world is more or less at peace, I must admit I miss the days when the Smash Brothers were bred to fight. Things have seemed…different…ever since."

"Yes," Gadd mused, wheeling himself over to a window which looked out from his lab/home on southern Fourside, which was still recovering from Crazy Hand's devastating attack over two years ago. Still, decimated buildings were well on their way to reconstruction; the streets had been repaired; and although not as glamorous as it had once been, the city was as lively and diverse as ever. "Different…but for the better, I think. What has fighting ever really profited us that these other interregional events can't achieve themselves? They prepared us to fight our enemies, perhaps…but even with a few enemies still out there, I can't imagine more fighting doing us any more real good." He turned to face the leader of the Smash Brothers. "We've come a long way since the first Smash Tournament, Meta Knight…and I think even a warrior as tightly wound as you needs to relax every once in a while."

"Perhaps you're right." Meta Knight wandered over to Gadd's desk and picked up an ancient book with lots of annotations and strange markings on it—a book that looked vaguely familiar.

 _"Don't touch that!"_

At last, the lingering aftereffects of L.O.G.'s Deletion began to show as Gadd frantically wheeled himself over to the desk and snatched the tome from Meta Knight's hands, muttering to himself as he smoothed out the pages, his hands shaking as he double-checked every note to make sure it was still in place.

"My apologies…" But Meta Knight's curiosity got the better of him. "I didn't realize this book was so important. What is it, may I ask?"

But Gadd kept murmuring under his breath, rocking back and forth in his seat, briefly forgetting that he had a visitor.

Meta Knight waited patiently until after a couple minutes of this, Gadd returned to reality and realized he had been asked a question. He anxiously pushed up his swirly-eyed glasses.

"So sorry, my friend…daydreaming and all that…But to answer your question, this is the book my colleague Professor Frankly found one day in his library up north. It contains maps of Smash Planet as well as a cryptic history of the Copyright Wars and other events I've yet to decipher."

"It is written in a strange tongue, then?"

"Strange tongue? No. Strange diction and syntax would be more accurate. The words of this book don't seem to follow any clear pattern or established grammatical structures; some passages make more sense because they read more like our speech, while others seem little more than jumbled nonsense."

"Interesting." A ringtone played the overture from the Fourside drama _Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland_. The sound came from Meta Knight's Gameboy-like communicator—one of many devices built by the professor, a painful memory of how instrumental Gadd had once been to the Smash Brothers. Yet now he was cooped up in his lab all the time, ruminating over strange dimensional theories (even stranger than the Dimension Conflux, which had proven to be a true theory, after all) and making a mess of what had once been an immaculately organized laboratory. Gadd was far from senile, but definitely not the clear-minded figurehead he had once been.

Meta Knight answered the call. "Yes?" He listened for a minute, his eyes narrowing slightly. "I see. I will take a portal there at once." He hung up and turned back to Gadd.

"Something terrible has happened at the Semifinal Race," he said. "I must go."

* * *

 **Seafoam Islands**

 **Kanto Region**

* * *

In the southeastern corner of Kanto, there was an enormous saltwater lake that had come to be known as Cinnabar Sea. Situated south of Fuchsia City and east of Cinnabar Island, a pair of small islands served as peaks that led into a vast underground tunnel network, wherein the Legendary Pokémon Articuno once resided.

Though the rocky walls and floors were damp; the low ceiling's stalactites dripping; the flooded caverns icy and the waterfalls deafening; the passages labyrinthine and the environment home only to some of the most savage of Wild Pokémon—for these very reasons, Giovanni, former leader of Team Rocket, had chosen this place to go into hiding.

He was no longer the well-kept gentleman who had taken over Saffron City, who had circulated thousands of stolen Pokémon through the black market, who had very nearly captured and controlled Mewtwo on one occasion. Now, his suit was in tatters; his face scruffy and scarred; his faithful Persian along with a few other choice Pokémon his only companions.

Giovanni had been on top of the world, with Kanto practically under his thumb, until…

Red.

Sitting in his makeshift shelter he'd been living in for the past several months, Giovanni pounded his fist on the wall in frustration, ignoring the pain and the blood that ran down his wrist as a result. Red had ruined everything! Him and those accursed Smash Brothers—first in Saffron when the Great Fox foiled his efforts to carry out Master Hand's wishes; then in the Battlefields when he had participated in a historic seven-on-seven Pokémon battle, which had resulted in his disgraceful defeat and the death or capture of his criminal colleagues. He'd managed to escape after the War of the Hands, but ever since then he'd been on the run. Cut off from the world. Ostracized like a wild beast, with no way to satisfy his hunger, no power to pursue, no peons to send out to do his bidding.

He almost wished now that he had told Red everything—right there in that department store basement, where he had the boy at gunpoint and could have hurt him with words more than he ever could have with a weapon. Where he could have shattered Red's reality with the truth of his family…

As fate would have it, it was in the middle of Giovanni's pondering that the key to Red's family secrets entered his midst. Giovanni was surprised to see Quentin here, but what he found most unsettling was that the man didn't appear to have stumbled upon him by accident; rather, Red's father had almost certainly singled him out and somehow tracked him down.

Quentin—his rugged features, dark shoulder-length hair, and simple tunic already enough to make him stand out in a crowd—approached Giovanni for the first time in over a decade.

"Q-Quentin? What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

The Pokémon Ascetic remained expressionless, but stood there and considered Giovanni's disheveled appearance for a long time. Then, without a word, he pulled out a glowing blue sphere from his belt and held it up.

Giovanni's eyes widened. "What—is that…?"

"The Omni Ball."

Quentin tossed it, and from it emerged Gardevoir, his first Pokémon whom he had once released along with all the others he'd captured as Pokémon League Champion; yet here she was, at her lifelong friend's side. Her gaze unsettled the crime boss just as must as her former master's.

"You once thought my ideals a joke, Giovanni," Quentin said. "That Pokémon were meant to be controlled…to be _used_ …"

"I…I was wrong…I'm sorry…" Giovanni stuttered. The power emanating from Gardevoir was Dark, and Psychic, and emotional.

"You treated them even worse than the rest," Quentin continued. "You treated them as slaves—as merchandise." He smiled slightly. "And then, who should stop you from ruling Kanto than my own son—your _nephew._ "

"I've learned my lesson, brother." Giovanni was desperate now. He could call forth his Pokémon, but he knew they would be no use against the Omni Ball. Even Persian, who hated water, preferred to stay inside her ball in these adverse conditions. He hesitantly held out an arm toward his accoster, dropping onto his torn, bloodied knees. "Please…forgive me…I've changed…give me another chance…"

"You had your second chance!" Quentin yelled, his Liam Neeson-esque voice echoing throughout the half-flooded tunnels. "And what did you do with it? You tried to kill him! You ignored even the base rules of Kanto's corrupt Pokémon battles and tried to gun Red down—all in pursuit of some power that always seemed to slip through your hands and into someone else's."

Giovanni was silent. There was nothing he could say or do now. Finally, after a long silence, Quentin went on.

"It is not for me to decide your fate." He turned toward Gardevoir. "It is for the spirits of the Pokémon. They will deal with you as they see fit." He nodded toward her.

Giovanni's eyes flickered back to Gardevoir. A violet energy was burning in her eyes. She held up an elegant white arm, which began to glow at the tip.

"Wait…no…" Giovanni moaned. " _No…"_

 _"NOOOOOO!"_

* * *

 **Death Mountain**

 **Hyrule**

* * *

Link was lost in his own mind.

An old man approached him in a dimly lit cave and presented him with a sword.

"It's dangerous to go alone…"

The scene faded, and then Hyrule Castle stood before him in all its grandeur. But then, the sky darkened and Hyrule became a "Dark World," where evil creatures roamed freely and a red-robed sorcerer called Agahnim ruled from the castle, which he had converted into a towering pyramid…

Then the castle morphed again into another strange state with saturated, sickly skies and tiny black squares descending through the air of the Twilight Realm. For some reason, he felt like howling…

Then it became a gray, forgotten underwater kingdom, lost in time, with the Great Sea concealing it from the world…

Then he was in a green village of tiny people called the Minish, one among them being a pale, red-eyed exile dressed in a blue-violet tunic…

Then he was soaring through the skies of Hylia on a great scarlet bird, passing through wispy clouds with the air pounding against his face…

Then he was facing the dual-bladed Ganon on the collapsed ruins of Ganon's Castle, with nothing but the Master Sword and Zelda's Light Arrows to end the demon's seven-year reign…

"Link? Link!"

He awoke—sitting beside Princess Zelda on a boulder overlooking Hyrule from the heights of Death Mountain.

"Sorry…dozed off, I guess."

Zelda looked at him with concern.

"You've been having visions about your past lives…haven't you?"

Link nodded.

Zelda put her hand on his and looked up at the halo of smoke that encircled the mountain's peak. "So have I. It's so strange…regaining so many memories that I don't know what to do with. Yet in a way, it feels right. Like our upcoming marriage. As if this 'Great Convergence' my father spoke of was meant to—" She gasped and doubled over, her hand on her chest.

"Zelda?" Link put a hand on her shoulder, starting to panic. "What's wrong? Are you in pain?"

"No…" But there was clearly something off. For some reason, she found herself staring out not at the Kokiri Forest to the south, or Lake Hylia and Castle Town and Kakariko Village to the north, or the great expanse of Hyrule Field below—but to the southwest. To the distant line marking the edge of the Gerudo Desert.

Keeping her eyes fixated on the distant desert, she spoke slowly. "I…I sense _he's_ returned. Ganondorf."

Link swallowed. "How?" he asked. "How do you know?"

"I don't know…I can just feel it…"

Both of them then glanced at the backs of their left hands. The Triforces of Courage and Wisdom were glowing, indicating some sort of activity in their connection to each other and to their missing third.

Link narrowed his eyes and instinctively put a hand on the hilt of the Master Sword on his back.

"Then we must be ready."

* * *

 **Titania**

 **Lylat System**

* * *

Major Dash Bowman of the Cornerian Fleet didn't know why he had been drawn toward this isolated planet in the outer rim of the Lylat System. There had been reports from Team Star Fox of strange biomechanical monsters here, but other than that, Titania was of little note or interest to the rest of the galaxy—at least, as far as he knew.

As he approached the stark beige planet in his personal Arwing, the Monkey Arrow, he reflected on his career thus far. Ever since he could remember, General Pepper had taken him under his wing and raised him within the healthy discipline of the Fleet. Dash had excelled in the program, top of his class, and had quickly risen through the ranks to the level of Captain following his role in the Aparoid attack on Corneria. This had occurred during the War of the Hands when a group of Smashers had unexpectedly arrived on it, inadvertently bringing the parasitic trouble with them. And then he had been promoted to Major after serving with distinction in the Space Pirate War, personally seeing to the demise of several of General Scales's admirals as well as two of the Galactic Federation's belligerent bounty hunters, Weevil and Kanden. And none of this was to mention the Fleet's stint toward the end of the Second Copyright Wars during the invasion of Microsoft.

Though his recollection was fuzzy from L.O.G.'s memory tampering, Dash also seemed to recall directly aiding Star Fox at some point in combatting Emperor Anglar and his armies which were based in the Venom Seas.

Yet he still felt like there was a void inside him, some emptiness in his soul that had yet to be filled. Until recently, he had never questioned his origins or his purpose, the structure provided by his foster father keeping him more than sufficiently occupied. But as he encountered Star Fox and the Smash Brothers more frequently, and as his typically all-business attitude had begun to soften in the presence of his friends (or, in most cases, more accurately described as acquaintances), he longed for something more. A personal connection, he supposed. A family.

And so, some time after the Space Pirate War's conclusion, he had asked the General for an extended leave, which had been granted without question. And he had wandered Lylat for weeks, from the plains of Katina to the oceans of Zoness to the steam engines of Macbeth. Until, finally, he'd ended up here.

His surroundings soon shifted from the astral panorama of space to the dusty atmosphere of Titania, and once he'd passed through, he found himself looking down upon a nearly featureless desert planet. He flew parallel to the surface for a while until he spotted an interesting formation of rocky red arches, plateaus, and pillars. He tilted the Monkey Arrow's nose down and landed on one of the small plateaus, the vessel's engine blowing sand in all directions.

Dash was about to open his cockpit and step outside when suddenly a projected blue hologram appeared on his display. It was an old anthropomorphic primate in a lab coat with a face covered in liver spots and a drab white beard, his eyes a livid green which was unusually vivid for a hologram that was generally just different shades of blue.

Dash gasped as he recognized the figure.

Andross.

The sworn enemy of Corneria—a scientist who had been expelled from the Fleet's research division for his unusual, dangerous, and inhumane experiments. Who had come back with a vengeance and killed Fox McCloud's father, James, nearly destroying both Team Star Fox and Lylat's entire protective military force. Whose demise at Fox's hand had been in the form of a giant disembodied head and hands, and then a suicidal brain whose self-destruction Fox had just barely managed to survive.

And then Andross had revived, in part, using the power of Sauria's Krazoa Spirits—only to be vanquished by Star Fox once again, permanently this time.

And now his image was standing before Dash—and speaking to him in a deep, insidious voice.

"Dash Bowman."

Dash's heart clenched. How did Andross know his name?

"This is a recording, which I designed to activate only upon the hidden signal's contact with your Monkey Arrow. If you are listening to this, then I am long gone...and I owe you a great apology. You see, Dash, you are my _grandson_ —my only living heir, and though I know by now you must be indoctrinated and brainwashed by Pepper and his army of imbeciles, I had to hold out hope that my potential death, however unlikely, would not be in vain.

"Your parents—my daughter and her mate—barely survived their time in the Cornerian Fleet long enough to give birth to you before they were killed in a mission on the planet Solar. By that time, I was not in a position to care for you, and so I had no choice but to leave you in the hands of that shortsighted hound dog. For that, I am truly sorry. You deserved better; you deserved to come with me and be a part of the grand vision I had for Lylat.

"No doubt you view me as a villain—a monster who had to be destroyed for the good of the galaxy. But if I were there to speak with you in person, I would ask you: What do you want out of your life? Do you wish to be remembered as a great usherer of Lylat's incredible future, or as just another pawn in the Cornerian bureaucracy? What if I told you, Dash, that you were destined for something more?

"The following recordings will instruct you on the secrets I have discovered through my research, which I now entrust to you. To you, Dash Bowman, I leave my legacy. I can only hope that you will honor it."

Dash shut off the recording before it could continue. He didn't know how he felt. Horrified? Amazed? Angry? It would take some time for him to sort it all out.

So he had family now—but the worst possible inheritance imaginable. Was this what he had come for? To learn that his heritage was a disgrace? One thing, though, he was absolutely sure of.

He would never, ever, become Andross's successor.

* * *

 **Sauria**

 **Lylat System**

* * *

Thorntail Hollow was perhaps the most peaceful of all of Dinosaur Planet (also known as Sauria). Its lush grass and marshy brooks and exotic water flowers complemented the pink sky to give it a rather paradisiacal mood. Dotting the mountain-fringed hollow were spineless stegosauri called Thorntails, as well as several large, mossy stone structures that resembled Mayan temples. And it was atop one of these temples that Fox McCloud admired the view with his girlfriend, Krystal.

Krystal, a blue vixen who no longer wore her tribal outfit but for some reason favored her Cornerian pilot suit, nevertheless retained the magic staff that was her trademark. She and Fox had first met when he had rescued her from Andross, who had been disguised as a Krazoa Spirit. From that point, she had joined Star Fox for the war on the Aparoids as well as the Anglars, but had afterwards been discharged from the team by Fox "for her own safety." She had, of course, ignored Fox's instructions on multiple occasions, including her involvement in the War of the Hands as well as the Space Pirate War. For the time being, they had come to an uneasy truce in which she did not officially accompany the team on most of its missions, but had unspoken consent to intrude on occasion—at least, Fox didn't seem capable of or comfortable with keeping her out.

Thus, this was a high point in their relationship. Fox had admittedly become less involved with the Smash Brothers than Falco, who had played a significant role in the campaigns against Microsoft, Wizpig, and eventually L.O.G. He felt slightly guilty for his negligence of the Smash Brothers and of his team, and yet his past negligence of the most important person in his life seemed to merit some extra attention to her; and Slippy, Peppy, General Pepper, and the rest had respected that.

While Krystal was transfixed by a small flock of pterodactyl-like Cloudrunners, whose cries resembled that of a dignified crow, Fox couldn't help but be transfixed by Krystal's beautiful face.

"Do you think I should stay here…for good this time?" he finally asked.

Krystal's gaze turned to him quizzically. "I don't think you could do that and stay sane. You were born for adventure, Fox; you have a team to lead and your father's legacy to live up to. And I support you one hundred percent. You know that."

"Yeah…" Fox looked down, unusually fascinated by an amber scarab beetle crawling between the cracks of a stone. "I guess you're right. But now that the wars are all over, now that our worlds are at peace, I'm honestly not sure how much longer we'll be needed."

Krystal laughed. "I wonder what Prince Tricky would have to say about that. He seems to see you as this legendary warrior who'll be fighting bad guys until his last breath." Prince Tricky was a young triceratops (known on Sauria as Earthwalkers) who had accompanied Fox on his quest to prevent the planet from completely falling apart due to the meddling of General Scales and Andross. And Fox knew Krystal was right again; Tricky would never be satisfied with the idea of his hero settling down—at least, not completely.

Then their moment was interrupted by his communicator—his ringtone being Team Star Fox's theme song. Fox picked it up and put his ear to the device.

"Yes, General? Yes. Really? Okay. I'll be there as soon as I can."

He hung up and turned to Krystal.

"The Smash Brothers need me again. I guess that means another trip to Smash Planet."

But Krystal shook her head and put her hand on Fox's, smiling, her deep ocean blue eyes shining. "They need _us._ This time I'm coming with you."

Fox considered arguing back, but finally shrugged.

"All right, then. It's a date."

* * *

 **Fountain of Dreams**

 **Dreamland**

* * *

King Dedede wasn't sure what had brought him back to this historic location which floated on a small platform high over the coast of Dreamland. Perhaps it was his memories of the power he had once usurped with the Star Rod (not to be confused with the wish-granting Star Rod of the Mushroom Kingdom), making his adversary Kirby's life a living Nightmare. Or maybe it was because he had been subconsciously driven by some mystic purpose to save the universe in some heroic way, like other Nintendonians seemed to be at times. Or, he supposed, perhaps the most likely reason was that the starry view and the quiet flow of the Dream Water from the fountain, which nourished the strange ringed plants that grew here, provided for a nice place to keel over and take a long, not-necessarily-deserved nap.

In any case, he'd lost track of time; and when he finally woke up, he almost swore when he realized he'd missed the entire Semifinal Race, which was being broadcast down in Cappytown. He hadn't gotten far in the tournament himself, but he had secretly been looking forward to watching Kirby go head to head with some of Smash Planet's greatest, and hopefully even win and bring Dreamland the attention it deserved.

Ah, well. Cappytown, just a few feet above sea level now since Professor U. Reeka's Deconstructor had partially sunk the Nintendonian continent, wasn't all that dandy of a place to visit anyways. With his castle destroyed and his Waddle Dees taking forever to build his new castle further inland, he found himself with nothing to do—other than avoid Meta Knight's verbal jabs at all costs. And sleep.

He opened his eyes drowsily, his vision blurry and his head cloudy, wishing he could return to his dream about putting Kirby off a golf tee. But he had overslept so long at this point that it would be impossible for him to doze off again.

Particularly because of what he then witnessed.

He watched comets streak across the sky here and there, painting small white swishes for a fraction of a second each time. The diverse panorama of celestial bodies glimmered with varying degrees of color and brightness, reminding him of how small he was—even how small Smash Planet was—in the grand scheme of things.

And _that_ comet…it was huge! And it wasn't even disappearing.

Why wasn't it disappearing?

The white splotch passed almost directly over the Fountain of Dreams, coming as close as a few dozen yards, maybe within reach of a well-aimed Gordo throw. But seeing what he thought he saw, King Dedede's body was in too much shock to so much as exhale. The white splotch passed over the floating island and then went on, not paying the Fountain of Dreams the slightest attention, but hovering purposefully with its giant fingers curling inward.

Dedede blinked in disbelief. How was this even possible?

How had he just seen Master Hand?

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** These first few chapters will, on the surface, appear to be developing a bunch of seemingly unrelated plot threads, but rest assured that they will all come together in time. _Heart of the Kingdom_ is a grand tapestry which requires considerable setup from many points of view before the big picture can be pieced together. Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 2: Family Matters

_"What's happened here, children…you must never,_ never _forget. Never forget where we came from, what they did to us, and one day…someday…you'll get the chance to strike back. And when that chance comes…promise me you'll take it. All of you. For our home."_

 ** _~Cranky Kong_**

* * *

Chapter 2: Family Matters

* * *

 **Throne Room**

 **Enchanted Kingdom**

* * *

 ** _K_** ameo could scarcely handle the stress she was dealing with. What with her father and mother—the king and queen—being confined to their sickbeds, and the responsibility of the entire Enchanted Kingdom resting upon her shoulders, it seemed a miracle that she hadn't used the Wotnot Book to change into the Element of Power Chilla and trash the castle in a tantrum.

That said, ever since the end of the Second Copyright Wars and the formation of the New RareWare under Banjo's leadership, things had been looking up for her elfin people. With trade now open between their neighboring Microsian regions, the islands of RareWare, Sony, and Nintendo, they were experiencing a time of unprecedented economic prosperity. There was always plenty of food and drink and raiment and musical instruments and all sorts of foreign novelties that kept the Enchanted Kingdom's morale high.

What really stressed her out, however, was not governing the kingdom in her parents' absence; that had pretty well taken care of itself. It was the fact that her parents had so mysteriously contracted such serious illness at the same time, and if they didn't recover, she would be left the sole heir to the throne and the last remnant of her family, her sister Kalus having been killed in the First Copyright Wars. Something about her parents' predicament seemed off to her, and so naturally she had turned to the royal family's most trusted advisor for counsel.

The Mystic was the last of the Sargothans—an ancient race of reptiles who had eventually been obliterated by the elves, the Wotnot Book being taken from them in their defeat. She was an old, crooked, hunched figured swathed in a hooded brown cloak. Her most distinguishing feature was her large purple Crystal Eye, which opposed her smaller, translucent yellow one, and which gave her the power to locate people from a large distance and even communicate with the possessor of the Book—which, in most cases, was Kameo. She had long served as advisor and diviner to the throne, helping the elves in their conflicts with the trolls. Or so it seemed.

In reality, the Mystic alone remembered an alternate history—erased by another one of L.O.G.'s Memory Paradoxes—in which she had tricked King Solon into fighting King Thorn of the trolls and losing his life. Her true motive was to avenge her race and reclaim the Elements of Power for herself. And more recently, she had been introduced to a sure way of achieving that goal.

The Mystic approached Kameo's throne, bowing her head humbly, her Crystal Eye flickering haphazardly as if it had a life of its own.

"All is well in the kingdom, Princess," she croaked. "For what purpose have you called me here today?"

Kameo frowned. "There was an accident at the Smash Planet Grand Prix yesterday. Mario was attacked by his metal clone, who conveyed this message to him: 'The Third Brother approaches.' Many are troubled by what happened—both inside and outside of Nintendo."

The Mystic raised her reptilian equivalent of an eyebrow. "And you are concerned about this as well?"

She nodded. "I'm worried there will be war once more. Only…this time, we know not from whence it will come."

The Mystic closed her pale yellow eye and focused inward, pretending to view the future through her Crystal Eye. Actually, she did perceive the future—but not the one she now related to Kameo.

"You have no need to fear, Your Highness. There will be no war; the Metal Mario was merely an aberration which Nintendo will contain within itself, and this matter will trouble us no longer. I urge you to put your fears to rest."

Kameo was silent for a long moment. "Thank you, Mystic. Your wisdom and foresight, as always, are invaluable to us. You may go."

The Mystic bowed again and turned and slowly made her way out of the throne room. She crept down the corridor and out the castle's back entrance, through which she had quick access to her hut. It was a small, thatched structure partially concealed by dewy deciduous trees. Within, she found her familiar quarters, the bed and table and chairs all made of troll bones, an altar of incense to one side, no windows for anyone to peek inside. She turned to the altar and plucked out her Crystal Eye, placing it on the ashy surface and allowing it to shine through the darkness of the room.

The Crystal Eye then lifted off the altar of its own accord, its glossy purple interior clearing to become very much a stereotypical crystal ball. The Mystic had done this many times before and it was no secret to the castle, but in this case she had not come to perceive the future or locate Kameo; rather, she had come to meet with her new benefactor.

Fading into view within the Eye was the image of Xehanort's face, his expression as inscrutable as ever.

"Master Xehanort," the Mystic said. "All is proceeding as you have desired. The king and queen, whom I have poisoned by degrees, will soon be dead. Their powerful daughter, Kameo, now reigns over the kingdom."

"Good." Xehanort's orange pupils were burning with an inhuman intensity. "The Elements of Power and the Enchanted Kingdom shall be yours. Now, continue to play your part patiently…until the time is right."

Despite herself, the Mystic couldn't help but ask. "And when will that be, Master?"

The faintest of smiles appeared on the old man's face. "Oh, not quite yet…but soon enough, my friend. Soon enough."

* * *

 **Princess Peach's Castle**

 **Mushroom Kingdom**

* * *

In every major Smash Brothers campaign thus far, Mario had become accustomed to being knocked out at least once. But this one was a doozy; one does not simply crash a racing kart into a solid iron person at high speeds and just wake up feeling chipper the next day. For this reason, he did not particularly appreciate the loud arguing coming from outside the bedroom door.

"I'm tellin' y'all—I saw him with my own eyes! Master Hand's back. Why won't anyone on this doggone planet believe me?"

"It would be easier to believe you," said Meta Knight's deep voice, "if you weren't an attention-seeking penguin who lied on a regular basis just to get a crack at Kirby."

Mario heard an angry hammer slamming on the ground. "This ain't got nothin' to do with that pink puffball! I'll admit I'm no saint, but I've paid my dues to you Smash Brothers, and I think I deserve some respect!"

Then came a reasonable, familiar feminine voice. "You said you were taking a nap on the Fountain of Dreams, didn't you? Might it be possible that you were just, you know, dreaming?"

"Yeah, fine, whatever; don't believe me, then." Dedede's grumbling voice faded as he stomped away. "Just don't come crawling back to me when we're in deep with another shifty supervillain."

Peach sighed as she opened the door to Mario's guest bedroom, followed by Luigi, Meta Knight, and Yoshi. She came over to her fiancé's bedside and planted a kiss on his forehead.

"Oh, Mario…are you feeling all right? That was such a terrible crash in Cosmo Terminal…I was so afraid I'd lose you before we were even married."

That cheered Mario up at least a bit. True, right now he was bodily broken and bedridden, but he _did_ have some wonderful things to look forward to—even though it seemed the Smash Planet Grand Prix Championship wouldn't be among them.

"I'm a-fine," he said, then had a thought. "Who won the race?"

"Wario lost, if that's what you're a-worried about, bro," Luigi said. "Sonic came in a-first, and then the Master a-Chief, Rocketman, Samus, Dixie, and a-Pikachu. The top a-six are moving on to the final a-race, so the rest are out of the competition."

Yoshi came up to Mario's other side and nuzzled his head against the plumber's chest, licking his face affectionately.

"Yoshi?" the dinosaur asked in his own tongue, meaning something along the lines of "Why did Metal Mario come after you after all this time? And why did it just leave after making you crash?"

Mario then explained, with some difficulty, what had happened—how Metal Mario hadn't exactly attacked; it just stood there and then came up to him afterward, passed on its strange message, and went on its way.

"'The Third Brother approaches…'" Meta Knight twirled his sword, Galaxia, pensively. "Could it be that this Metal Mario only stopped you to get your attention—to convey a warning?"

"A warning about what?" Peach said. "Who's the 'Third Brother'?"

"I have a theory…" Meta Knight began pacing back and forth, gazing absent-mindedly at the room's fine drapery and Mushroom-decaled wallpaper and out the Star-shaped window at Toad Town below. "You remember what L.O.G. told us in the Citadel? About how Nightmare was his brother in the organization that designed This World?"

"You think they have another a-brother," Mario surmised.

Meta Knight nodded. "After what happened last year in Wizpig's Palace, I think it safe to say that Metal Mario and Metal Mr. Game & Watch, for better or worse, have their own agendas. As shady as they may seem, however, it would be wise for us to take Metal Mario's claim seriously. We could be in for another enemy as powerful as Nightmare and L.O.G.—or worse."

"If that's the case, then let him come!"

King Bowser somehow managed to squeeze himself through the narrow doorway and into the room, filling a good quarter of the entire cubic space.

"Bowser?" Luigi jumped back instinctively; he would never get used to the Koopa King's threatening persona. "Who a-let you in the castle?"

"I let myself in," Bowser said casually. "But that's not important. All you need to know that even if this 'Third Brother' is the nastiest, cleverest, most brutish son of a Goomba ever born, me and my Koops'll be ready to send 'em to kingdom come. Or maybe we can find a way to throw 'em into that weird Subspace place; seemed to work pretty well for Nightmare…at least until he became Tabuu and tried to bring us all down with him."

"Indeed," Meta Knight said, having nothing to add to the awkward silence that followed. Bowser wasn't exactly the life of every party.

Finally, Peach cleared her throat. "Are you here for a reason, Bowser, or is this just a social call? I'm not currently available for kidnapping, if that's what you're wondering."

"No, I…" Bowser suddenly looked a little sheepish. "Look; I just wanna have a word with Red 'Stache here. Can you all just clear out and scram for a minute? Please?"

Peach was about to object by pointing out that Bowser had no place ordering anyone in her castle to do anything, but then she caught a curiously calm glance from Mario, who nodded to her in a reassuring way.

"Very well," she said. "Five minutes." She filed out along with Luigi, Yoshi, and Meta Knight, leaving the plumber alone with his archenemy.

Once the door was shut, Bowser moved closer to Mario's bed, and for a moment the mustachioed hero thought Bowser would actually just gut him right then and there in spite of his supposedly nonviolent intentions. But then the beast got a strange look in his eye, one that Mario had never seen in him before. Bowser looked almost…wistful?

"We've come a long way, you and I, haven't we?" Bowser began, even laughing a little to try and defuse the tension. "I mean, who would've thought the Princess would ever willingly leave me in a room alone with you while you're injured?"

Strangely enough, Mario found himself agreeing. "You've a-made great strides to do a-good, Bowser," he said. "Ever since the War of the Hands, the Mushroom Kingdom's been at a-peace with itself—thanks to you."

Bowser nodded. "Even before that, though…I mean, during that business with Fawful and Cackletta in the Beanbean Kingdom, we had a common enemy, and then with the Shadow Queen and the Thousand Year Door, and with Fawful's revenge when you and Green 'Stache were literally inside me…it's almost like we're not even enemies anymore. You've got my shell, I've got your…uh…I've got your back. Turns out kidnapping the same princess over and over with the same disastrous results gets old after a while—even for me."

Mario didn't respond. He had no idea where this was going, but he was intrigued to find out.

"I guess what I'm trying to say, Mario," Bowser continued, "is you and me, things are different between us now. Better, even. So I hope that makes what I'm gonna say next a little less weird: Congrats on your coming wedding to Peach."

Mario raised an eyebrow. "Thanks."

"You probably see me as a monster and a villain through all our fighting, Mario," Bowser said, "but contrary to popular belief…well…you're not the only one who cares for the Princess. So take good care of her, because she deserves a hero who'll never let her down. That's all."

Bowser said nothing more, but began making his way toward the door, struggling to twist the knob with his large claws and ducking under the low ceiling.

"Bowser."

He paused and looked back at Mario, who sat up and smiled and offered his hand.

"You're not a monster, or a villain; you're a friend to us a-now."

Bowser shook the plumber's hand, and they nodded to each other, and then he was gone, shoving a still-indignant Dedede into the wall on his way out.

* * *

 **Arbiter's Grounds**

 **Hyrule**

* * *

Ganondorf had returned to that ancient prison in the Gerudo Desert which had once served as a shrine to the bridge linking Hyrule to the Twilight Realm. Once Midna, the Princess of the Twili, had left This World and destroyed the Mirror of Twilight on her way out, that connection had forever been severed, leaving the Arbiter's Grounds as nothing but empty, powerless ruins. Empty, at least, until Xehanort had brought Ganondorf back from the Sacred Realm to this very place.

As he strode through the tomb-like chambers, disregarding the occasional quicksand and ReDead Knights and Stalfos that still stalked these halls, he found himself recalling memories he didn't know he had. Through his mind flashed the image of himself chained to a pillar in the Mirror Chamber, where the Council of Sages had condemned and executed him just as they had other dangerous criminals. He had been temporarily slain, it was true—until he'd found an ally in the Twili usurper king, Zant…

He paused and furrowed his brow, a torch casting shadows across his face. Zant? Twilight Realm? Mirror Chamber? What were these things? Surely he had no history but his upbringing by the witches Koume and Kotake—collectively known as Twinrova—and then his years in the Gerudo Desert, training for the day he would conquer Hyrule and reign for seven years. Seven glorious years…

Then another image came: a room with waterfalls for walls, flooding while he fought with dual blades against a cartoonish Link and Zelda…

The two witches raising him with harsh, sometimes cruel discipline, teaching him dark magic, teaching him of his destiny to carry on a legacy of power that would overshadow all of Hyrule, beating him when he was slow to understand or to master a skill…

"Ganondorf…"

He shook himself awake. The room he currently stood in was dark save for a single torch illuminating himself and the sandy corridors leading to other branches of the collapsing prison. That, and the figure that had come before him out of the darkness.

It was a Gerudo woman who appeared much like the others: striking red hair pulled back in a ponytail; heavy tribal make-up on her dark face and body; baggy Arab pants and pointed shoes. The one thing she seemed to be missing was the gold jewelry worn by high-ranking Gerudos like the Spirit Sage Nabooru; this woman, in fact, appeared almost emaciated with poverty, and there was a sad countenance about her, as if her spirit had been broken long ago.

Ganondorf clenched his fists, purple magic flaring around them. He narrowed his eyes at the woman, though something about her was strangely disarming.

"Who are you?"

"Ganondorf…I am your mother."

The man flung a ball of crackling energy at her in rage. But it seemed to pass right through her.

"Impossible! I have no mother; Twinrova is dead…at the hand of the Hero of Time."

She smiled grimly. "Koume and Kotake were no parents to you, my son; not really. They only sought to unleash the darkness within you—to nurture your power and make you take your place as evil's incarnation. No, you were born to me—a simple, poor Gerudo who was allowed no more claim upon you than a Floormaster has upon the heavens. You were taken from me and given to those hags."

Ganondorf was at a brief loss for words. This was a highly unusual claim, and it was strange she knew so much about his upbringing. Still, he knew it could not be true.

"Even if I had a mother," he said, his dark eyes flashing, "she would have been dead long ago."

"Yes," the woman said. "Yes…I am."

That took him slightly aback, but he refused to show it, instead injecting a thick dose of malicious sarcasm into his voice. "So you are a ghost, then."

"I would not be the first restless spirit to haunt these halls, would I?" she said.

It was a fair point. Still, Ganondorf's pride would never back down. Especially to some lying ghoul. "What do you want?"

"I cannot force you to believe me," she said with a somber expression. "But I can tell you this: These new memories you are gaining…they are coming to you for a reason."

At that, Ganondorf's eyes widened. Everything else about this encounter could have easily been a sham, but how could she have known his private thoughts?

"The reason," she continued, "is that you are a man who has lived many lives—or, at least, the dark spirit within you has, wreaking havoc upon the Heroes of Legend and the Princesses of Hyrule since time immemorial. You, my son, are your own person; but the demon Ganon that resides within you, that possesses you, is an entirely separate entity."

For some reason, none of this seemed to surprise Ganondorf; only one part of this story didn't sit well with him. "You dare suggest I am not in control of my own actions?"

"But you are," she said. "This is why I have come: To tell you that you have a choice. Until now, you have been bred in the shadows, and you have willingly embraced the ancient evil residing in your heart. And who can blame you for this? The Gerudos, steeped in their inhumane traditions; the witches, cultivating your power with the insidious hope that some of your greatness would rub off on them; the banishment of our people from Hyrule to the nigh uninhabitable conditions of the desert; all these things in your environment have shaped who you are."

Ganondorf laughed softly. "You waste your time; I know all this already. Yet you make it sound like a curse, when in reality it is the story of my ascent to immeasurable power—an ascent that will soon bring about the end of Hyrule's royal line, and that of the Heroes of Legend, and will consolidate the Triforce into my hands forever!"

The woman frowned, waiting patiently for the Gerudo King to finish. Finally, after a long pause: "I do not expect you to understand what I mean at this time; I only ask you to look within yourself, and ask yourself whether even during those seven years of your reign, were you ever truly content? Or did your lust for power drive you to an everlasting hunger for more? Look inside yourself, Ganondorf; reflect on the memories of your other lives, and you may find the demon's destiny— _your_ destiny—not as desirable as you might think. And then, you will find there is a way—a hope—that you can sever Ganon's destiny from your own."

Before Ganondorf could speak dismissively of her most recent words, she stepped back into the darkness and was gone, leaving him in the Arbiter's Grounds with doubts that relentlessly, futilely, nagged at his confidence in his own power.

* * *

 **Kong Family Treehouse**

 **Kongo Jungle**

* * *

DK finished his morning pushup routine, half-expecting to hear Cranky's shrill voice commanding him to get his hairy behind outside for the family gathering. But of course, that wasn't going to happen anymore; now it was _his_ job to take care of the Kongs.

What was left of them, at least.

"Hey!"

He walked out of his hut and down the interweaving boardwalks of the Kong Family Treehouse, pounding his fist on each other cabin in turn. He was so accustomed to the hot, humid air of the jungle that it didn't bother him any more than the rustling leaves or the occasional squawking of parrots.

"Come on, guys; you've already slept in too long! Let's get our Banana Report over with!"

He came to the last hut, but didn't raise his arm because there was no one inside to awaken. Diddy had left his dwelling unoccupied, as had Dixie when she went off to Timber's Island to lead the racers there in Diddy's place.

Shaking dark thoughts from his head, he turned and made his way to the center of the boardwalks—a larger platform with benches and Cranky's Cabin. The old ape's dusty rocking chair still sat out front, untouched since Cranky's death in the War of the Hands.

DK still had to wait for ten full minutes before the Kongs were assembled: Lanky, the orangutan picking his nose with both hands at the same time; Tiny, her arms folded in a sassy posture, her yellow pigtails highly reminiscent of Dixie's; Chunky, still yawning from his log-like sleep, his expression resembling that of a hibernating bear woken up halfway through winter. And…that was it.  
"Where's everyone else?" DK asked, annoyed. Cranky had always been better at this administrative stuff than he.

Tiny looked at her cousin with almost pitying eyes. "This…is all of us, DK. Funky and Candy are back at the Krystal Koconut; Kiddy's still working full time with the Brothers Bear; and Dixie, of course, is away preparing for the championship race this week."

"Oh." DK scratched the back of his head. "Right. So…inventory time, guys. Let's make it fast; I know we've all got more exciting stuff to do today than lounge around counting fruit."

"Not really," Lanky said, inspecting the booger on his finger and then licking it off with relish. "K. Rool's gone, and the Kremlings aren't really around anymore; I was actually planning on just napping all day. And tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day. And the next day. And the n—"

"We get the picture, Lanky," Tiny interrupted. "I'll start out: 75 increase."

"47 increase," Lanky said.

DK turned to Chunky, bracing himself for the colossal losses the gorilla usually cost their banana stores.

"295…"

"What?" DK said incredulously. "How on earth did you eat all—"

"…increase."

That merited stares from Lanky and Tiny as well. For Chunky to actually collect more bananas than he consumed was almost unheard of.

"I ate a ton," Chunky explained. "Well…more like two tons. But without most of the Zingers, the trees're just brimming full of banana bunches. It's like we have the whole jungle to ourselves!"

DK knew he should be happy about this, but for reasons he couldn't fully explain, the positive report just made him feel even less motivated.

"Great," he said half-heartedly. "Good job, guys. Keep up the good work."

Tiny, ever the most socially conscious of the bunch, noticed DK's body language and came up to him, putting her hand on his arm (she couldn't reach his shoulder).

"It's okay, DK; I know things are different now, but sometimes change is good, right? I don't think Diddy would want us to get down; he'd want us to go on with our lives." She hesitated. "I know you haven't wanted to go to any of the other ones, but we should really consider going to the championship race to support Dixie. We've got free tickets!"

DK just grunted apathetically and turned away. He jumped off the boardwalk and disappeared into the trees, swinging through branches and vines to go find some Gnawties to beat up.

* * *

 **Pallet Town**

 **Kanto Region**

* * *

Red's home—where it all began: leaving his mother, Delia, to receive his first Pokémon in Professor Oak's lab; stumbling upon Pikachu in the tall grass along the way; and then, from there, catching and training and battling his way to the Pokémon League Championships, where he defeated the Elite Four as well as the Champion at the time—his cousin and rival, Gary.

It was as humble and peaceful a town as anyone might find anywhere in Nintendo. There were just a few neighbors who all knew each other, and then Professor Oak's lab, which was the only really interesting site that ever brought any visitors down from Veridian City or up from Cinnabar Island. Fluffy white clouds drifted lazily across a perfect, bright blue sky, Pidgeys cooing and Rattatas occasionally jumping through shrubs in their never-ending quest for free food.

Luigi and April (Red's sister) sat out front, discussing the events of the Grand Prix and Luigi's report of Mario's condition, he having just arrived from the Mushroom Kingdom to spend time with his girlfriend. The news worried her considerably.

"I guess I've just enjoyed our world being at peace so much this year," April said, her hands trembling. "So much that anyone who might disturb that peace…" She trailed off for a moment, then spoke with renewed resolve. "Metal Mario and Game & Watch have to be stopped; they can't just go around picking and choosing whether to kill our friends or our enemies."

Luigi knew she was thinking of Pikachu, Red's first Pokémon, who had been killed by Metal Mr. Game & Watch over a year ago. He put a tentative arm around her. He was getting a little better at this physical comfort thing—slowly but surely.

"I agree, April. But the fact is, there's no a-way for us to find them, even if we a-wanted to catch them."

April looked like she was about to respond, but then her expression changed to one of astonishment. Luigi followed her gaze to behold a massive dragon Pokémon, Salamence, alight some twenty yards away. A figured climbed down, waved off the beast, and began walking purposefully toward them.

"…Dad?" she said.

Quentin smiled broadly as he jogged forward and enveloped April in a strong embrace. April and her mother had only briefly been reunited with their father and husband at the party in the Waffle Kingdom following the end of the Second Copyright Wars. Red had been the last person the man had spoken to, but all Red had told the rest of his family was that Quentin had said he needed to attend to something important and had flown off without further explanation.

But Red had withheld several important details.

Seeing Quentin through the second-story window of his bedroom, Red froze, filled with conflicting emotions. On one hand, he was relieved to see his father again, having been worried that the man might take another ten-year ascetic journey. But on the other, he was still deeply disturbed, even horrified, by what his father had told him of his intentions for Kanto.

In brief, Quentin believed the entire system of Trainers capturing and raising and battling with Pokémon was contrary to the fundamental laws of the natural Pokémon world. This much, Red felt like he might be able to get on board with; it was Quentin's planned solution to the problem that was the issue. In order to restore mankind's relationship with Pokémon to its classless, Spirit Bond-based ideal, Quentin had told him that he intended to purge Kanto of most of its human population and start afresh. This, Red knew he could not allow—long-lost father or not.

He saw his dad hugging April, and then ran downstairs to find his mom washing dishes, facing away from the ground-floor windows.

"Mom," he said. Delia turned to face her son. "Dad's back. Look!"

Her expression was unfathomable, but she followed Red zombie-like out the front door.

"Red." Quentin strode forward and placed his hands on Red's shoulders. "Forgive me for taking so long to return. The Pokémon have been tasking me with rather more than I'd wish to bear…but now, I'm here. And I'm here to stay."

But all Red could think about was what sorts of "tasks" his father had been up to. Had he been making preparations to cause a genocide throughout Kanto? Red had no words, but luckily April filled in for him, noticing Delia's demeanor.

"Uh, Dad…I don't think Red's the one you need to apologize to."

Quentin finally tore his eyes away from Red and beheld Delia, who seemed unusually stiff. Tentatively, he began moving toward her.

"Delia…I—f"

The slap wasn't enough to knock him down or break any teeth, but it looked painful. Quentin all but cowered before the woman.

"Ten years," she seethed, fire in her eyes. " _Ten years_ you left us, to do whatever spiritual calling you'd been given. And then, when Red found you…when we all found you at that party…then you thought it would be okay to just up and leave again?" With hands on her hips, she glared at the quailing Quentin; Red and April watched with stunned fascination, never having seen their mother get angry like this—ever. Luigi just looked down awkwardly, feeling out of place.

"I…probably deserved that," Quentin said at last, still wincing from the stinging pain but standing his ground. "I should have explained better why I had to leave…should have included you, my family, in all my doings."

Delia nodded angrily. "You think? What kind of example do you think you're setting for our children by putting your mystical ventures above us—by keeping secrets from your own wife?"

Quentin glanced at Red—who just stared back blankly, not knowing what to think or how to feel—and then looked again at Delia. "You're right. And I will tell you everything; I promise. But right now, what you need to know is that I would never put _anything_ before you three…unless I knew it would affect us all. Us and our Pokémon. I want Red and April to grow up in a free world, but at times I forget that without my family in my life…none of the rest is worth it. That's why I need you, Delia…That's why I love you. And though I may not deserve it, I hope you can still find it in your heart to love me."

Quentin was on his knees now—a very different image from the man Red had known out on the high seas. Red was frustrated by his inability to understand his own feelings. Could a man like this really be capable of doing something terrible? Could his father have been right all along?

Delia considered her husband long and hard. And then she moved down and wrapped her arms around him. By now, Luigi felt more out of place than a Lava Bubble in a diving contest.

The two children watched as their parents laughed and then cried and then laughed again in each other's arms. April and Red exchanged curious glances as if to ask each other, _What does this mean for us?_

Red didn't know what would happen—whether Quentin's return would prove good or bad, or whether history would remember this moment as a joyful landmark or as a harbinger of sorrow. All he knew was what he saw before him right now.

His family was together again.

And he hoped it would last forever.

* * *

 **Open Space**

 **Lylat System**

* * *

 _You are my_ grandson _—my only living heir…_

 _You deserved to come with me and be a part of the grand vision I had for Lylat…_

 _What do you want out of your life?…_

 _What if I told you, Dash, that you were destined for something more?…_

 _To you, Dash Bowman, I leave my legacy. I can only hope that you will honor it…_

Darkness. Without even noticing, he had entered a nebula of black nothingness that concealed the starry panorama visible from the cockpit of the Monkey Arrow. Had he, Major Dash Bowman of the Cornerian Fleet, actually dozed off midflight?

He shook himself awake, images of Andross's talking hologram burned into his retinas, haunting his every thought and impression, demanding his attention, his energy, his life.

He boosted through the nebula for some three minutes until, finally, he had escaped, leaving the cloud behind him. He let out a deep breath, relieved to have the tiny pinpricks of starry light for company once more.

 _You'll never make me as mad as you, Andross_ , he thought, refusing to call him "Grandfather" even in his head. _You thought you could create something great with your experiments, but all you did was plunge Lylat into war and cause the deaths of thousands of innocent people. You're as bad as Gadd's evil cousin on Smash Planet, Professor U. Reeka—twisted; insane; evil._

Still, he felt the pull of his ancestor's secrets like the subtle but persistent tug of a small planet's gravity. He knew his curiosity about the rest of Andross's message—which he'd refused to watch—was natural, yet even that passing desire made him ashamed. Resolved to put that nonsense behind him, he boosted himself even farther away from the nebula, redirecting his vessel toward his new destination: Smash Planet.

If he was really going to show Andross's "legacy" how totally and completely he'd abandoned it, what better way than to become a part of Lylat's other great legacy?

He was going to join Team Star Fox.

* * *

 **The Great Fox**

 **En Route to Smash Planet**

* * *

Not too many light-years ahead of the Monkey Arrow, Fox, Krystal, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad were making their way toward the same destination, where they would meet up with many of the other Smash Brothers in anticipation of the championship race. Meta Knight had called as many Smashers as were available to be there in case there were any further complications during the Grand Prix.

"I just can't wait to see Falco's face when he gives us his excuses for why he lost," Fox said, grinning with his arms folded as he and the rest stood on the main deck, looking out at the panoramic view of the space between the Lylat System and Smash Planet. It was almost like old times—except Falco wasn't there, of course, and Peppy no longer piloted an Arwing these days, opting to take charge of the Great Fox instead due to his aging body.

Slippy hiccupped, his bulging eyes taking in the view. "I just hope they've got more of that cider from the Waffle Kingdom party."

Krystal laughed. "I guess now we know how Andross could have destroyed Star Fox completely: with strong drinks."

Suddenly, Fox's train of thought took an altogether unexpected detour. The original Star Fox team had consisted of Peppy, Pigma Dengar, and his own father, James McCloud. Pigma had betrayed James to Andross, resulting in the fox's demise; Peppy had managed to escape alive, but James had fallen into Andross's disembodied clutches, and Pigma had scuttled away with his blood money until the Aparoids infected him, and then eventually his queer Rubik's Cube-like remnants had been defeated during the War of the Hands.

Fox had never seen his father again; he had only a few faint childhood memories to remember him by—along with several haunting visions in which he could have sworn he'd seen and heard James McCloud, guiding him even now. Or, in the case of the Aparoid Queen's deceptive impersonations and of the Boos' imitative apparitions, he had been manipulated by his childhood hero's memory, very nearly to his own undoing.

"Peppy," he said, "tell me again what my father was like, before…you know."

The old hare's ears perked up, taken aback by the strange shift in both subject and seriousness. He had told Fox about his father many times, of course, but the young whippersnapper never seemed to grow tired of the stories. "James, well…he was a lot like you, Fox. Remarkably so. He was the most fearless, most compassionate leader I done ever met—always willing to stick his tail out in danger's way to save his wingmen." Peppy coughed. "I'm living proof of that; he saved me at the last minute before Andross got us, bumping me into the wormhole that rocketed me back to Corneria when Pigma's trap on Venom was sprung."

Peppy's countenance then grew somber. "It was his trusting nature, unfortunately, that did him in. After his wife—your mother—died giving birth to you, rather than wallow in self-pity, he sought out companions whom he could lift up, and then we joined to go about Lylat doing good. That, Fox, was the kind of hero your father was."

The sleek white interior of the main deck was silent, save for the beeping of machinery and the steady rumble of space flight. Finally, Fox smiled at his old friend.

"Thanks, Peppy. I needed to hear that."

Krystal went over and took Fox's hand. "You've made your father proud, Fox. He lives on through you."

Fox watched a shooting star briefly lighting up the darkness of space.

"Yeah. I know."

* * *

 **Dr. Andonuts's Home**

 **Onett**

* * *

Around the dining table of Dr. Andonuts's comfortable suburban home, the astrophysicist was joined by the four Earthling heroes who had used PSI powers (or, in Jeff's case, sheer intelligence) to protect their planet from many an alien invasion. The four early adolescents—Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo—were all digging into Poo's signature Kabobs, the spices and sautéed vegetables providing a kind of delectable magic of their own.

Ness chewed moodily on a piece of beef, his eyes on the table. Paula, a little blond girl who could sense the boy's emotional state better than anyone else, set down her Kabob and leaned forward in her chair.

"You're still thinking about what happened in that race, aren't you?"

Ness said nothing. He himself had been eliminated from the Grand Prix after the quarterfinal race in Dante City—the capital of Helios, where the BattleMechs were based on the Microsian continent. He might have moved on to the next round had it not been for Rayman's frog friend Globox, who had extended his elastic blue arm and slapped him so hard that it had ricocheted and sent both of them off either side of the track. But he knew that wasn't the race to which Paula was referring.

They had indeed watched the semifinal race in Cosmo Terminal on the large antiquated television in the other room. He couldn't get the image of Mario's crash out of his mind—and that of Metal Mario's mysterious appearance.

Jeff pushed his square-rimmed glasses up his nose. "I guess it's a good thing that masked bat guy is calling you and the other Smashers together for the championship. There never seems to be a dull moment where Smash Planet is concerned."

"If it makes you feel any better, kiddo," Dr. Andonuts said, putting a comforting (albeit awkward) hand on Ness's shoulder, "I've been in close communication with Meta Knight, and he says Mario will be just fine. I'm sure the worst is behind us, and the final race'll be a swell sight to see."

"Where _is_ the final race, Dad?" Jeff asked.

The Einstein-haired man shrugged. "It's a big secret, apparently." He turned to Ness. "Where's Meta Knight having you Smashers meet up, Ness?"

Finally, Ness looked up. He was just beginning to get over the trauma of watching one of his good friends nearly die on live television. Now that he thought about it, things really weren't so bad. "We're meeting in Saffron City," he said, "but then we're taking a portal to the track from there."

"Speaking of portals," Andonuts added, "have I shown you my working model for the Phase Distorter 5? It's quite somethin'—"

"Dad," Jeff interrupted, exasperated by his father's obsession with dangerous inventing. "I really don't think another time machine is a good idea after what happened to the last one. Remember how it took us six months into Fourside City's apocalyptic future and then almost dropped us out of the sky on Rainbow Ride?"

"Well, y-yes," Andonuts said, fumbling over his own words, "but that was an anomaly; we had no way of knowing that Master Hand's Room would be dimensionally impervious to—"

" _Anyway,_ " Paula said, cutting off the excessively nerdy conversation about painful memories, "change of subject. Have you guys heard the news about the Starmen sightings?"

"What?" Ness perked up. The Starmen had been the primary alien fighting force of Giygas—the most dangerous enemy he and his friends had ever faced together. Giygas was an alien who had given itself to evil so totally that its physical form and mental consciousness had been destroyed, becoming nothing but an immaterial shroud of scarlet shaped like a smeared, distorted skull. Its aim had apparently been to consume Earth in darkness—although what exactly that meant, Ness and his friends were fortunate enough never to have found out. After getting past Giygas's Starman armies, they had only been able to destroy it with the prayers of the people of Earth, which had caused Giygas to feel human emotions that ultimately tore it apart.

The Starmen, however, had not all been destroyed; just two years ago, a group of Smashers had landed in Onett shortly before a mothership of Starmen launched a surprise attack. They had been serving Master Hand for reasons unknown, possibly because Nightmare's evil aura had drawn them in a way similar to how they had been drawn to Giygas.

"I have heard it," Poo said. "They have not attacked anyone as yet, Master Ness; but I am sure they are up to something."  
Paula frowned. "But with Giygas and Master Hand gone, who else is there to serve?"

Ness didn't speak his mind, but in his head he had at least a temporary answer. Meta Knight had shared Metal Mario's telepathic message with just a few key Smash Brothers, the remaining Original 25 among them.

 _I wonder if this "Third Brother" has something to do with it_ , he thought. But what he spoke was very different.

"Do you have any more Kabobs, Poo?" he asked, standing up with his empty plate in hand. "I've gotta fill up before I take the portal to Saffron."

Maybe, Ness thought, if he put all of these troubling things out of his mind, they would just go away. Or, at least, they would become someone else's problem besides his. He'd grown much braver through his experiences with the Smash Brothers, but he didn't fancy facing anything potentially as bad as or worse than Nightmare and L.O.G. How much wider could Nintendo's enemies escalate the scope of their evil plots beyond the Nintendo World and Smash Planet? To Earth? To Lylat and the Federations? To the universe itself?

* * *

 **Palutena's Temple**

 **Skyworld**

* * *

Pit hadn't returned to Skyworld in ages for one main reason: There was nobody left to visit there. Or at least, there hadn't been—not until the goddess Palutena had made contact with him and the Smash Brothers at the end of the Second Copyright Wars. Or, more precisely worded, she had rescued them and the Citadel from certain doom at L.O.G.'s hand.

Now, even though they hadn't heard since from her or any of the other Nintendonian deities who had stopped the LOGosphere, Pit held out hope that his prayers would reach up to the higher heavens and bring her down at his bequest.

And so he had flown up, and up, and up above what was known as the Unclaimed Territory between Fourside, Kanto, and the Icicle Mountains, until he'd passed through a thick layer of pearly clouds and found himself among the floating islands of Skyworld.

It was a magnificent city—with towering alabaster buildings of Greek design, misty fountains, elegant statues, ornate pillars, and of course the curving stone staircases and arches that led up to the giant golden-winged statue of Lady Palutena herself.

But it was empty. And for the life of him, Pit couldn't recall anything of how his home had become this way. He supposed it was another memory taking from him by L.O.G.

Pit climbed these winding, aptly named "flights" of stairs until he arrived at the topmost shrine, surrounded by an open-aired ring of fifty-foot columns, feeling at home in the high winds of the lower atmosphere. He took a knee before the exquisite sculpture and put his hands together and shut his eyes.

"Oh, Lady Palutena…please…grace me with your presence. I thank you for this wonderful time of peace we've had, but I need to know you're still there, in case This World faces troubled times once again. I need to know that you and the other gods of This World will continue to protect us according to your will."

He waited for a full five minutes, but nothing happened. Nothing but the howling of wind and the stillness of an abandoned city.

And then a brilliant pillar of light, shining from the white sky upon Palutena's larger-than-life representation. A heavenly bell echoed from no particular source as Palutena descended in all her beauty and elegance, her gold jewels shining, her sapphire-tipped scepter in hand, her face smiling graciously down at Pit.

"That hero who recognizes his own limits and is humble enough to ask for help," she said, her voice musical and ethereal, "is a great hero indeed. What brings you here, my Captain of the Guard?"

Pit stood up, shielding his eyes from Palutena's almost blindingly bright aura.

"Lady Palutena. I…" But suddenly, everything he had been about to ask for became for some reason obsolete. Foolish, even. "I…had to ask…do you know what happened to Skyworld? To our home? Where's the guard I'm supposed to be captain of? Why is there no one left?"

Her smile faded. "I'm afraid you mistake deity for creator, Pit," she said. "I, and the Triforce goddesses, and the Divine Dragons, and the Star Spirits…we are not all-knowing, neither are we all-powerful. My vision was as clouded by L.O.G.'s manipulations as yours, as everyone else's. Even immortality does not save us from weakness. After all, This World goes beyond me or any other kingdom's deity; even the Triforce goddesses are only responsible for the creation of Hyrule, and the rest of us…we only wield power and wisdom granted unto us as stewards by the Hand of Fate."

Pit's face fell. He'd never heard Palutena speak so lowly of the gods before. "I…understand. I was just hoping…"

"However," Palutena said, extending her scepter toward him, "since L.O.G.'s defeat, I and others have begun to regain some of our stolen memories. I can show you one that I have only recently recovered."

Suddenly, Pit's vision grew blurry, filled only with swirling clouds. His body was floating in space, and he felt nothing—only saw. Only saw a vision reflecting Palutena's memory of a past Skyworld.

 _It was the same city, only even more brilliant. Vivacious. Full of golden-armored guards flying about; citizen angels dressed in white and green and purple tunics; even the occasional god going about its business, whether it be Hermes with his Seven League Boots, or Zeus, determined to protect Skyworld and the Overworld from the schemes of Medusa and Hades in the Underworld. It was the home Pit didn't know he had known._

 _But then there was panic. A watery black veil had begun to spread from the land far below, forming a rippling wall in several directions. Skyworld itself remained intact, but it was as if reality were being torn into chunks—melted and remolded and torn apart._

The vision ended. Pit was back with Palutena. She wasn't smiling, but her kindness and goodness pervaded all other impressions.

"What does it mean?" Pit said, suddenly feeling weak. He imagined he felt similar to how some of the Smashers had described feeling after traveling through time and space in Dr. Andonuts's Phase Distorter 4—as if he were being pulled from every direction at once.

Palutena shook her head. "Only time will tell, Pit. And you and the Smash Brothers…you will decide how our story ends. Not Fate. Not the gods. You."

Then she was gone, leaving Pit with incredible insights and absolutely no idea what to do with them.


	5. Chapter 3: The Monster Inside

" _Honor is the most important quality in a warrior."_

 _ **~Ryu Hayabusa**_

* * *

Chapter 3: The Monster Inside

* * *

 **Haunted Mansion**

 **Twilight Forest**

* * *

 ** _L_** uigi, Meta Knight, and Professors Gadd and Frankly found what had once been called "Luigi's Mansion" as ominously abandoned as ever. The Boos, who had turned on Bowser and sided with Master Hand during the War of the Hands, no longer seemed to lurk here, but that didn't make the estate's boggy cemetery walkway or the self-opening mansion doors or the candelabras' oddly flickering shadows any less spooky—or supernatural. After all, this house still held the memories of Elvin Gadd's childhood days.

His wealthy family had lived here—until one of Ulysses Reeka's experiments had inadvertently caused a volcanic eruption that burned down the Twilight Forest. All that remained of Gadd and Reeka's childhood home were charred, barren trees and the occasional ghostly apparition of this mansion.

Gadd had commissioned Luigi with the task of restoring all his family's restless ghosts to an underground gallery of portraits, where they would find peace. Luigi had ultimately been successful, though one of the ghosts—a fortuneteller called Madame Clairvoya—seemed to persist in returning to the mortal world (not to mention King Boo and his followers). That was how she had prophesied to Gadd several years ago of the Original 25 and their triumph over Master Hand using the Dimension Relics (another long story). And now they were here again—because of a seemingly random prompting the old scientist had received, hoping to further uncover the mysteries of the Smash Universe.

Professor Frankly—a Goomba scholar and colleague of Gadd's—was the only one there who actually felt afraid of this place, seeing as Gadd and Luigi were used to it, and Meta Knight was never surprised by or afraid of anything. He shivered and glanced down at the old tome he was somehow carrying without arms, the flickering candles of the atrium chandelier reflecting off its worn leather surface. "Are we quite sure this venture is necessary? I mean, what if this Clairvoya person…ghost…thing…isn't even here anymore?"

Gadd chuckled. Mobilized by his personally designed hover chair, he led them over to an open door that marked the entrance to a downward-spiraling staircase.

"Don't you worry, lad; Madame Clairvoya was perhaps the least violent of all my ghostly ancestors. Isn't that right, Luigi?"

Luigi nodded. He had to admit, this place wasn't nearly as frightening as it had been when he had first "won" the mansion. Nevertheless, he had brought his Poltergust 3000 just in case. "If she's a-here, she'll a-help us."

Meta Knight, who felt as at home in the dark as an actual bat, beat his wings urgently. "Let us go down, then."

They descended the very narrow winding staircase, stepping down in a tight spiral with cold stone walls as if they were delving into a dungeon. Luigi couldn't help but note that just two years ago, a party of Smashers consisting of Young Link, Roy, Fox, and Samus had climbed down these very stairs—only to walk into a trap set up by King Boo, and then to be bailed out by Gadd at the last moment.

It was utterly silent save for their footsteps and the occasional drip of water. At length, they reached the bottom, passing through a metal door that had apparently been left open ever since the Smashers' last experience here. Beyond the door was the hallway, still candlelit with the two dozen-odd Portrait Ghosts that had comprised Gadd's relatives. It was like a strange mix between a crypt and an art gallery.

Frankly gulped as he and the other three walked slowly down the row of portraits, the ghostly neon eyes and translucent bodies chilling him to the depths of his mushroom cap. Then, Gadd's hover chair came to a stop, and they all turned to look at one particular piece of artwork.

Madame Clairvoya gazed out at them from her silver-framed portrait, the lime green background contrasting with her loose red robes and her hypnotic, pupilless yellow eyes, a purple cloth wrapped over her nose and mouth in the true spirit of fortunetelling.

"Here she is," Gadd said proudly.

They stared and blinked. Nothing was happening.

"So…now what?" Frankly asked. He'd prefer not to spend any longer in this creepy place than he absolutely had to.

As if in answer, the woman in the portrait blinked at them, and then pink tendrils of mist curled around from behind the frame and began filling the hall.

Frankly started to panic, but Meta Knight and Luigi just waited patiently, while Gadd clapped his hands in delight, enjoying this otherworldly escapade a little too much. The pink mist then clouded their vision, and next thing they knew, they were in a dark room, seated around a circular table, with Madame Clairvoya's ghost seated beside them and her crystal ball floating and shining in the center.

Luigi felt a strange affinity for this ghost, for she had been a great aid in helping him defeat the Boos. Still, he wasn't quite sure how to break the ice. "It's, eh…good to see you."

Clairvoya's head pivoted rather unnaturally to face Luigi beside her. Her voice echoed as if she were calling to him from the opposite end of a large cavern.

 _"Luigi…Elvin…Smash Brothers…it brings warmth to my cold, dead heart to see you again. I see you have brought to pass the spirits' words concerning Master Hand's defeat…and much more, even. For that, I congratulate you. How might I be of aid to you this dark and stormy night?"_

Frankly cleared his throat and pushed the book, which had no decipherable title, toward the spectral fortuneteller.

"The good Professor—that is, he and I—were wondering if you could tell us anything about this book."

Clairvoya leaned over the book and, without moving a finger, caused it to open of its own accord, the pages flipping in rapid, sporadic succession, as if a strange wind were passing through the room. The phenomenon, again, startled Frankly but no one else. The book paused as it was opened to maps of the Nintendo World; of Smash Planet; and even one of the Smash Universe, the aging ink splotched and fading in places on the delicate yellow pages. Most of them were filled with jumbled English text that occasionally contained a phrase that made sense—such as "and then when the Copyright Wars came to an end"—but the rest of the words seemed so haphazard in placement that they made no visible sense.

Finally, the book shut itself once more, and Madame Clairvoya raised her head to gaze at her four visitors one by one.

 _"I would recognize this volume anywhere; it is_ The Foreseen and Unforeseen History of the Near and Distant Past As Well As the Near and Distant Future, As Glimpsed from the Present Past, Presently. _I would know—I wrote it."_

Meta Knight didn't even try to wrap his mind around the book's convoluted title. "Then…you know the future of the Smash Universe?"

 _"Unfortunately,_ she said, _"I am only a conduit of the spirits, which inspire me to write their thoughts and premonitions. Sometimes the spirits' thoughts are not very well organized, which is why you might have found a few of its passages a bit…difficult._ "

"A few?" Luigi said.

 _"I cannot retain a memory of any of my prophecies save in written form,_ " she continued. _"Which is why I wrote them here. Thus, what you are able to understand from this book is no less than what I would be able to interpret for you."_

"That's unfortunate," Gadd said, clearly disappointed. "I was hoping you could help us with some of the more cryptic passages, such as this label on Atari Island's map that reads, _"Where the end begins."_

 _"Where the end begins…"_ Suddenly, Clairvoya's eyes flashed a burning white, and the breeze that had seemed to blow the book's pages became a raging whirlwind. Sheets from the book were ripped out and caught up in the torrent. Shelved objects—small statues, globes, other books, etc.—began levitating of their own accord. A strange power overtook the room, a presence that made each of the heroes inexplicably sure that they were no longer alone. They were forced to cling onto their seats to avoid being lifted into the air. The crystal ball, meanwhile, turned a blinding lavender, which reflected in the ghost's eyes. And then she spoke again, only this time it was layered, as if there were a whole chorus of other voices speaking simultaneously. Which, as far as Luigi's knowledge of Clairvoya's genuine séance power was concerned, might very well have been the case.

 _"Ohhh….Harummm…I see! The spirits speak once more. They speak of a **Darkener of Hearts** , one who ventures from world to world, bringing out the very worst in each of its inhabitants. There will be a terrible struggle…Yes! The Darkener of Hearts shall assemble his **Thirteen Vassals** , and they shall accomplish his work. The Thirteen will only fall against the **Twelve** and their allies. Then, **where the end begins** , all will be revealed and the struggle will bear its ultimate fruit…The spirits leave me now…My strength ebbs away…Good luck, Smash Brothers! I go now to my portrait, my last prophecy given, my unfinished business complete, never to return again to this decrepit mortal world. May you find peace as I have!"_

There was a white flash, and then the room was back to normal, lit by a small electric chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Meta Knight looked pensive. Frankly just sat there, trembling something terrible. Luigi turned to his old mentor.

"That was a-something."

Gadd retrieved the book, _The Foreseen and Unforeseen History of the Near and Distant Past as well as the Near and Distant Future, As Glimpsed from the Present Past, Presently_ , from the table, and looked back at his onetime apprentice with a slightly off-his-rocker grin.

"Oh, I assure you, lad…that was more than something. Much, much more."

* * *

 **Pallet Town**

 **Kanto Region**

* * *

For the next several days, Red felt like he was in a dream that was too good to be true: him, April, both his parents—together. As a family.

Quentin did not leave Pallet Town during this time, but he did venture to Professor Oak's lab for long intervals, no doubt to discuss any number of Pokémon-related topics. Red and April, meanwhile, spent time with their Pokémon, occasionally having a friendly battle such as between his Pikachu and her Butterfree, or his Sandslash and her Lickitung. Though Red was Pokémon League Champion for a reason, April's skills were often overlooked, and her Pokémon were good enough to hold their own even against Red's.

Delia would make them delicious meals every day, and they ate together, catching up on everything from Red's and Quentin's adventures in Sony and Microsoft to April's underwater expedition to destroy Reeka's continent-sinking Deconstructor to Delia's exploits growing her garden. One day, they were helping themselves to some of Delia's signature tofu, eating at a picnic table outside. Gary and his grandfather, Professor Oak, had been invited to join them, though April looked a bit lonely without Luigi there, who was out on important Smash Brothers business.

"Ever since Mewtwo disappeared again," Red went on, "I've kind of missed having one Legendary Pokémon or another around. You know—just to keep things interesting."

Quentin laughed. "If you're asking me to conjure another Mew out of the Omni Ball, Red, I'm afraid that's not quite how it works. The Pokémon only come when they deem it needful." He swallowed a large bite of tofu. "Speaking of which…I've been meaning to share a bit of good news with all of you. Do you remember a certain crime lord by the name of Giovanni?"

"Yeah?" Gary seemed particularly interested, having replaced Giovanni as Gym Leader of Viridian City for a time, and having had several encounters with Team Rocket in the past—like Red. "He escaped after we beat his butt in the Battlefields. What about him?"

"Well," Quentin said, "he'll trouble Kanto no longer. His body was found in the Seafoam Islands; apparently a Wild Pokémon had felt threatened and saw fit to put a permanent end to his abuses."

Professor Oak looked oddly pleased, his ashen gray hair and bushy black eyebrows complementing his white lab coat. "Well, that _is_ good news. It's about time that monster was rooted out. Now the Pokémon world will be just that much safer."

But Red, for some reason, felt something oddly amiss about Quentin's story. "How did you find out about it? Pallet Town's news is always at least a couple days later than the rest of the region; we haven't heard anything about Giovanni here yet."

Quentin paused for a moment, but then quickly recovered his smile. "The Spirit Bond between man and Pokémon can provide many benefits, Red," he said. "You'll learn how to commune with them on a more intimate level soon enough."

"What _I_ don't understand," Oak said, with somewhat of a strange expression, as if he were trying to play poker while simultaneously concealing a sudden onset of nausea, "is why that man thought he could ever escape from what he's done, and then hide among hundreds of Wild Pokémon and expect them to treat him kindly."

"Well, you know, Oak," Quentin said, "your son was never one to…" His voice trailed off as he realized what he'd just said, Gary and Oak and the rest all staring at him with stunned expressions. Then everyone turned to Gary and Oak.

Professor Oak cleared his throat. "Gary—"

"My father was a crook," Gary said abruptly, masking the trauma he was feeling inside with dismissive nonchalance. "I get it. You told me my parents left when I was little to protect me from the shame of being related to probably the most despicable human being in Kanto." His voice was unnaturally calm, and there was a dark look in his eye as he turned to Quentin. "But if Giovanni's my father, and Red and I are cousins, then you and him must be…"

"Brothers," Quentin said heavily, resigned to deal with the consequences of his verbal slip. "Half-brothers, because Oak was merely my stepfather. But yes." He then put a firm hand on Gary's shoulder. "But you, Gary…you are no more your father than the Metal Pikachu was Red's Pikachu. You have made your own legacy, and I apologize if it sounds like I am tarnishing it; nothing could be further from the truth."

"So Giovanni's my uncle," Red said incredulously, mostly to himself. "My own uncle tried to kill me."

Oak looked equally serious. "Giovanni stopped being my son long ago. You may think it heartless that I am glad at his passing, but in truth both he and the world he left behind are better off. He was not just a disgrace; I would not have shunned him for that. Giovanni was a very real danger to the Pokémon world as we know it."

Red sighed. He knew his family's peace couldn't have lasted long. And now, although he didn't want to throw another wrench into the mix, he felt like he had to finally speak his mind to his father. He fixed the man with as hard a look as he could muster.

"And we all wanna keep our world as good as it is; don't we, Dad?"

Quentin instantly seemed to catch on to Red's insinuated accusation. He tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace.

"As good or better."

By this point, almost everyone at the table was in a sour mood, and the meal soon fell apart as they dispersed, leaving only April and her mother. They exchanged a meaningful look.

"What was Red playing at?" April asked. "And what did Dad mean, 'As good or better'?"

Delia stared at the door through which Quentin had reentered their small house.

"I don't know," she said, "But I'm going to find out."

* * *

 **Yoshi's Island**

* * *

The Super Happy Tree was the prized possession of the Yoshi Tribe. Laden with watermelons, apples, grapes, honeydew, bananas, and the giant, juicy Heart Fruit, it was a thick vine sprouting and curling up from the ground with a red-to-green gradient. It was located on a grassy yellow hill at the center of the island, and it was Yoshi's favorite place to nap and dream.

Yoshi sighed with pleasure as he consumed a bunch of juicy red grapes in one slurp. Beside him, his guest exercised one of his rare moments of restraint, inhaling only a couple melons and apples here and there. Kirby, who would normally ingest anything within his vacuum-mouthed reach, could in fact respect the wishes of his friend, Yoshi, and of Yoshi's tribe—especially when that wish was to not strip the Super Happy Tree so barren that it would never regrow.

"Yoshi," the dinosaur yawned, leaning back in the grass and expressing his wish that moments like these could last forever.

"Yum," Kirby agreed, making a tiny grass angel with his stubby appendages.

The beautiful, saturated landscape grew fuzzy as Yoshi's eyelids fluttered and then closed…

 _The Yoshi tribe were gathered at the coast of their island, watching in horror as it drifted further and further away from the Mushroom Kingdom. They could hear distant screams. A shimmering wall of blackness curved across the sky, the watery veil sloping down into the ground many miles to the north and also to the west, appearing to mold the landscape like a sentient fault line, like the stitches around a quilt square tugging and pulling against each other. And slowly, the dark veil began to fade…_

"YOW!" Yoshi leapt and banged his head on a low-hanging branch, causing several bananas and a watermelon to fall around them. He rubbed his aching head and was surprised to find that Kirby's nap had been no more restful.

 _Kirby was walking through white space when he stumbled upon the most delightful of treats—a strawberry shortcake! Beaming, he shoved it into his mouth and savored it for a whole three seconds before the whiteness turned to darkness._

 _The Cloaked Nightmare suddenly towered over him. His decaying indigo hands—Master Hand and Crazy Hand, gloveless—complemented the raging tornado that made up Nightmare's body. His deep laugh echoed from every direction as he reached down to crush his greatest enemy._

 _Kirby mounted a Warpstar that appeared from nowhere and steered it past the Hands and the tornado into Nightmare's shining white eyes, shattering the monster's colossal form. But then the Warpstar abandoned him, and suddenly he was tumbling head over stubs, falling through raging purple currents._

 _As he fell, currents within the currents formed shapes in front of him, becoming fully materialized beings: King Dedede, his Jet Hammer poised to roast him; Daroach, a caped mouse with a bomb in each hand and a wicked grin; Marx, a small creature with a jester hat and two enormous bejeweled wings with golden cartilage; Drawcia, a round figure with a pointed lavender witch hat and a multicolored paintbrush; Zero Two, a haloed creature shaped like a giant white piece of wrapped saltwater taffy with an enormous, horrible blood-red eye._

 _All these foes from Kirby's past came at him simultaneously, and he was about to cry out when they all dissipated back into the purple currents, then converged to form one more._

 _Magolor was an odd egg-shaped alien dressed in electric blue with what looked like pointed blue candy corn pieces for ears and two benign yellow eyes blinking from an otherwise concealed brown face. Of all the bizarre and fearsome intergalactic beings he'd faced, Kirby remembered feeling particularly hurt by Magolor because he had pretended to be Kirby's friend, manipulating him into assembling the Master Crown so he could claim its power for himself. Kirby had always wondered how things might have gone differently had he not presented the Halcandran with the temptation of such power._

 _Magolor approached him, but not violently as had the others._

 _"You can't save everyone, Kirby," he said in his familiar friendly voice. "Some of us have already chosen our path, past the point of no return. But don't let that stop you from saving those who still have hope…"_

Kirby yelled as he awoke, his mouth being filled by an apple that Yoshi had inadvertently knocked out of the Super Happy Tree.

He swallowed, but this time without any relish whatsoever, feeling as if it would take very little now to make him cry. Sitting up, he turned to Yoshi, waddled over, and gave him the closest thing to a hug he was capable of giving.

"Poyo…"

Yoshi hugged him back, near to tears himself, and all because of the same strange dream he'd had back in the Waffle Kingdom.

"Yoshi."

And by that, he meant, "I'm scared, too."

* * *

 **Bean Castle**

 **Beanbean Kingdom**

* * *

Prince Peasley, hero of the Beanbean Kingdom, decided on a whim to answer the castle door himself this time. Little did he know that he would find himself hailing one of his good friends, Mr. Game & Watch. Only, the two-dimensional Smasher didn't look too happy.

"My good fellow, please, come in, come in!" Peasley ushered him into the entrance hall and they began making their way toward the throne room, where Queen Bean would surely be delighted to have him as a guest. After all, G.W. had been among the Smashers who had saved Bean Castle from a Wire Frame attack once upon a time.

Game & Watch was unusually quiet. Peasley paused and looked at him with concern.

"What seems to be irking you, my Flatzone-dwelling friend?"

G.W. gave an electronic sigh. "That is pre-cise-ly the prob-lem, Peas-ley. My house in Sub-con—my home—it was de-stroyed by the wa-ter-fall yes-ter-day."

Peasley's eyes widened. "Dear mercy! However could that happen? I thought your abode was positioned well away from the edge of that bright-colored chasm."

"It was. My theo-ry is that af-ter Ree-ka's De-con-struc-tor be-gan flood-ing the Nin-ten-don-ian con-ti-nent, the dam-age was e-nough to cause some ri-vers to o-ver-flow—in-clu-ding the one that runs past my house."

"I see." Peasley put a brotherly arm around his comrade, pretending it wasn't awkward when there really wasn't any body to put it around, and led him up to the door of the throne room. "Well, never fear! We shall make you at home as long as your heart desires. You never know when or where the winds of change might blow, do you?"

"No." Game & Watch again pictured the sight of the black bars of his house tumbling down the waterfall. "I sup-pose not."

* * *

 **Sanctuary**

 **Pandora**

* * *

Sanctuary—once a hotspot for bandits and lowlifes—was the thriving capital of the wild country of Pandora. It looked like a Wild West town made of steampunk metal and enhanced with futuristic technology—though with not a little rust and patched two-by-fours to give it a truly untamed milieu. Spires that looked like lightning rods protruded from rounded metal roofs, and the dirty streets paved the way to neon-lit saloons and general stores. A few rugged mountains asserted a powerful presence past one end of town, while the other end stretched out into endless canyonlands.

The Holy Spirits was a pub located in the middle of town which had once been a hotbed of gang violence, but recently it had taken a more neutral position what with Microsoft's almost universal state of peace. The theme was very St. Patrick's-based, with four-leaf clovers on signs and mugs and green bowler hats everywhere. The place was hot and muggy and smelled of ales and liquors and cigars of many types, and the general commotion made it the perfect place for the three remaining Vault Hunters to meet.

"Admit it, man—the lack of excitement around here doesn't suit you any more than it does the rest of us."

Roland slammed his beer back onto the table, annoyed not because of Mordecai's snide tone, but because he knew deep down the bird-owning sniper was right.

"Brick gave his life in the struggle to bring peace to Smash Planet," he grumbled. "What would you have us do—start a bar fight for no reason? _That'll_ sure make life better for everyone."

The white-skinned woman beside him, Lilith, just shook her head at him. "Bringing up Brick doesn't make reality any less real, hun. Truth is, we're a dying breed. I mean, we call ourselves Vault Hunters, but there's not even a Vault to hunt anymore."  
"And based on what was in the last one, I wouldn't be too keen on finding it even if there were," Mordecai added. The Vault, which they had raced the Crimson Lance to find way back when, had ended up containing a terrifying monster rather than the advanced alien technology they had expected to unearth. This encounter, followed by the interloping of Wizpig, had meant the end for both the Crimson Lance and the weapon manufacturers known as the Atlas Corporation.

Roland had to concede that point. "All right. So we're no longer Vault Hunters. What are we, then? Are we just concerned citizens interested in preventing jerks like Steele and Jack from controlling Pandora? Or are we just a couple of wacked-out war veterans drinking and gambling our lives away?"

At that, Mordecai gave a raspy laugh, his faithful bat-falcon hybrid, Bloodwing, ruffling her feathers from his shoulder. "Now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind a nice—"

But they never found out what Mordecai wouldn't have minded, for at that moment their attention was captured by a conflict occurring at a table nearby.

The two men were yelling profanities at each other, and already beginning to shove and swing fists. Roland didn't even understand what their argument was about, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that one of them, a bearded miscreant with a cowboy hat, pulled out a gun and shot the other in the chest. A very particular gun with a very particular bullet that didn't just pass through the man; it electrocuted him and left his body sizzling on the floor.

Roland, Lilith, and Mordecai stood up, which drew the gunman's attention to them. Upon realizing who they were, however (the Vault Hunters were legends among Pandoran culture), he turned tail and bolted out of the pub, leaving the twin doors swinging in his wake.

Mordecai arced an eyebrow. "Was that a—"

But Roland didn't wait long enough to answer. He shoved his way through the stunned crowd of drunkards after the murderer. Lilith and Mordecai followed close behind, leaping nimbly from table to table until they had all exited the building.

It was a starless night, but the full moon and the neon signs gave them enough light to spot the man sprinting down one of the streets. They took off after him. Roland pulled out a gun of his own, though he didn't intend to use it unless things became desperate.

"Go, Bloodwing!" Mordecai deployed his falcon after their quarry. She gave a piercing cry and swooped ahead, attacking the man's head like a rabid bat. That slowed him down enough for them to quickly catch up.

Roland floored him with a single blow and kicked his gun away. Lilith, as a Siren, then used the power of Eridium to emit a hot pink glow that pinned the man and held him in place, unable even to lift his head.

"Interesting." Mordecai picked up the weapon and showed it to his two companions. It was a revolver with sleek, sophisticated parts.

Roland frowned, turning it over in his hands. "A Chimera. Manufactured only by Atlas Corporation. How's this possible? Both Atlas and Handsome Jack's successor brand, Hyperion, are ancient history." He bent down over the terrified cowboy. "Where did you get this gun, you murdering maniac? They've been out of production for years now."

The man struggled to breathe in the invisible grip of the Siren's power. "I…got it from a coupla traders back east. Only do business at night. An intimidating white-haired lady with some wild-lookin' tattoos accompanied by a shady fella with dark hair and a curving scar over his nose. Handsome guy, though."

The Vault Hunters exchanged a meaningful glance. That was Commandant Steele and Handsome Jack to a "T." Both of them were supposed to be dead.

"Let's get you to the sheriff's lockup where you belong," Roland said, still entranced by the gun. "Then we'll deal with these mysteriously resurrected weapons."

* * *

 **Tairon**

 **Vigoor Empire**

* * *

Ryu Hayabusa and twenty of his best ninjas made their way from the Vigoorian capital to the Pit of Obaba. After much debate, they had finally agreed that the spider-witch-monster, Obaba, who had once terrorized their lands beside the Black Ninja Spider Clan, had to be terminated.

When Wizpig had destroyed their enemy clan for them, he had preserved this particular monster in order to organize ritual sacrifices to himself by the Hayabusa and the rest of Microsoft, thus further cementing their loyalty to him as their Great Moon Deity. Accordingly, during the days of the First Copyright Wars, they had executed many prisoners of war by feeding them to the pit. Its last victim had been Conker the Squirrel, when the maniacal rodent had tried to knock Diddy Kong into it himself. But since then, nothing had been done about it.

Today, however, they would finally eliminate the last trace of the evil that had plagued their people for so long. Ryu approached the edge of the massive pit and drew the fabled Dragon Sword, which granted him incredible powers. He signaled to the ring of ninjas that had formed a perimeter around the pit, and as one, they tossed torches into the hole, illuminating its dreaded depths.

It was empty.

There were skeletons, and fragments of rotting flesh, and thick gray webs. But no Obaba.

Only a large, gaping passage carved into one side of the pit. Ryu's eyes widened in disbelief.

Somehow, after all these years of entrapment, Obaba had tunneled her way out.

He turned to his second in command. "Have the clan return to their homes," he said. "Obaba has escaped, and we must go after her. But not tonight; we are not sufficiently prepared for such an endeavor. Tomorrow, we will begin the hunt, and then we will exterminate Obaba's evil influence—the last vestige of Wizpig's tyranny—once and for all."

* * *

 **School of Magic**

 **Akaneia**

* * *

"You have already done well to honor Gotoh's legacy, Linde, as well as that of your father."

Princess Nyna smiled at the girl in question—a thin girl in a red mage's garment, with a single tress of long brown hair. Linde had recently replaced Gotoh (who had disappeared in his dragon form) as Master of the School of Magic and head of its resident mages. Her father, Miloah, had been one of Gotoh's two apprentices, though he had been slain by his colleague, Gharnef, who had brought about a disastrous Manakete uprising in the capital city under the direction of Master Hand. She had served as a Lady in Waiting to Nyna, but had also been raised in the arts of magic as her father had. Her green eyes twinkled back at the Akaneian leader.

"All thanks to your training, Milady. And with the prosperity we now enjoy, I wonder whether our combat skills will ever be needed again."

Also seated in the school's library with Nyna and Linde were Marth and Roy. The former was fully engaged in the conversation, praising Linde's abilities and steady temperament, and discussing the status of various regions of Akaneia.

Roy, on the other hand, was caught up in another bout of strange daydreams. The first was, admittedly, inspired by the attractiveness of the school's new master.

 _Lilina, an energetic girl with blue hair, clinging to Roy's side as he sought to protect her from the kingdom's warring factions…_

 _The dying figure of Lord Hector, Lilina's father, who had charged him with his daughter's safety…_

 _King Zephiel, a noble who had sought to use the dragons to rid Elibe of all other humans. Roy stood against him with the Binding Blade flaming in his hands, a weapon he had obtained only after finding the seven other legendary weapons of Elibe…_

 _His father, Eliwood, and his mother, Lyndis, exuding pride in their child's accomplishments, proud that Roy had inherited their warrior skills…_

"Roy?"

Roy blinked against the soft light of the library. Marth, Nyna, and Linde were all staring at him.

"S-sorry…dozed off there…"

Marth watched him with particular concern. "You were having more visions of Elibe; weren't you?"

Roy hated to admit it, but the truth was that at this point, he felt less connected to and invested in Akaneia than ever, having regained memories of this other homeland that L.O.G.'s meddling had wiped away. Yet truth was truth. He nodded.

Marth stood and pulled his friend to his feet. He turned to Nyna.

"We shall rejoin you later, Your Highness."

They wandered down a torch-lit corridor, the cobblestones clacking beneath their feet.

"It is all right to dream bigger, Roy," Marth said. "Perhaps someday…who knows? You may even find this Elibe that you once belonged to. If and when that day comes, I will be there to support you."

Roy smiled faintly with gratitude. "Thanks. You've always been there for me. I guess I can relate to what Mario's been mentioning every once in a while—I'm not quite sure what 'This World' really means to me…or what my place in it really is. If everything we know really is just part of some game made by a team in some other universe, I don't know how much of this…" He gestured out toward the rest of the school, but really it was understood to include the rest of Nintendo, of Smash Planet, of the Smash Universe. "…any of this…means anything."

Marth suddenly had a thought.

"I have a proposal for you. The championship race of the Smash Planet Grand Prix is tomorrow. Let us head over there, and perhaps then, among all of our comrades, we may find the beginnings of an answer to your concerns. You may find that you can accept more than one home—those of your past, and those of your present."

Roy considered it. "Okay. I guess it couldn't hurt. It _was_ pretty satisfying to watch Wario eat it in Cosmo Terminal after what he did to you in Dante City with that Bob-omb."

Marth laughed. "Indeed."

* * *

 **Arbiter's Grounds**

 **Hyrule**

* * *

Try as he might, Ganondorf couldn't get out of his mind the woman who had appeared to him, claiming to be his mother. Whether she had been telling the truth or not, he was disturbed by how much she knew about his expanding memory pool of his past lives.

 _"Look inside yourself, Ganondorf; reflect on the memories of your other lives, and you may find the demon's destiny—_ your _destiny—not as desirable as you might think…_

 _Fine,_ he thought as he sat on the base of a statue of the ancient Council of Sages, the moon reflecting off of a few shards of the shattered Mirror of Twilight in the center of the circle of statues below. _Let us review the terrors I have wrought upon Hyrule throughout its history—previews of how I will soon subdue it permanently…_

He saw himself, ruling Hyrule for seven years, then battling the Hero of Time in his mighty beast form, Ganon. His dual swords swept Link before his terrible figure. But then, the hero lunged at him with the Master Sword and embedded it deep inside his chest, wresting that dark power away from him so he could be sealed in the Sacred Realm…

And then he was back in the room with waterfall walls. The younger, cartoonish hero leapt and plunged the Master Sword into his head, turning him to stone as the chamber filled with water and sank him to the bottom of the Great Sea…

And then he was sparring Link on horseback. Both their horses were maimed, and so they continued their duel on foot, his heavy blade surely far too powerful for the boy to overcome. But yet again, the Master Sword proved to be his eternal bane, piercing his heart and vanquishing him once more…

 _Is this my doom?_ _To be forever trapped in a cycle of defeat against the Heroes and Princesses of Legend? What is this demon spirit who supposedly controls my destiny? I am my own; let none speak otherwise!_

And then his vision switched once more—only this time, it felt much more real.

He was face to face with an immense figure, standing a full twelve feet tall. It was too beastlike to be a man, yet too manlike to be a beast. Its eyes were like glowing coals. Its head was covered in a mane of flames. Its thick torso was covered in what looked like black scales or armor. Its clawed hands gripped a serrated sword with an inverted Triforce symbol upon its flat side. Its aura radiated a power beyond description, beyond measure, beyond time.

Demise.

It stared at him and grinned with repulsive black teeth.

" _Do you believe in the Demon now?"_

Ganondorf yelled, and suddenly he was back in the Mirror Chamber, the afterimage of Demise still burned in his retinas. He shuddered, never having felt such a presence within himself. Could that…thing…really be inside him?

A single sentence from his alleged mother flashed across his mind.

 _"And then, you will find there is a way—a hope—that you can severe Ganon's destiny from your own."_

He clenched his fists. Though he would always despise the Heroes of Legend, that did not change what he despised even more: powerlessness. And if this demon, Demise, was standing in his way of having true power over his own fate, then he would destroy it—utterly and completely.

* * *

 **Little Big City**

 **Craftworld**

* * *

Little Big City was a sight to behold even without the added spectacle of the Smash Planet Grand Prix. Essentially, it was the most elaborate arts-and-crafts project imaginable, except it was life-size and housed thousands of Sack People, all of whom resembled Sackboy to one degree or another.

The buildings were tall cardboard boxes; the streets black felt; the stoplights and windows and car wheels various colors and sizes of buttons. There were origami metros that ran along popsicle stick tracks; plastic gardens and Tek-Dek skate parks; carnival rides featuring rubber band bungees and spinning top carousels and music box bumper cars. The clouds were literally cotton, hanging from fishing lines that extended up into the blue vinyl-textured sky. Pipe cleaner birds chirped and wooden dogs yipped and bustling Sack People created quite a city commotion.

And this was only added upon by the newly created racetrack, which ran through and around and above and below the city. It began in a cardstock stadium, with a starting line drawn in chalk upon the foam board track. The six finalist racers were lined up, with hundreds of spectators cheering from the sidelines, the whole thing being broadcast to the rest of Smash Planet and beyond courtesy of WarioWare.

Sonic grinned and revved his kart's engine between Rocketman and Samus. Joining the lineup were Master Chief (who was just as unreadable as the two other helmeted competitors); Dixie Kong, who was more determined than ever to honor Diddy's memory by winning this race; and Jigglypuff, who was filling in for Pikachu after his injured finish in Cosmo Terminal (Blue Shells packed a nasty bite).

"You've got this, Jigglypuff!" Red called from the sidelines.

"Pika!" Pikachu encouraged from Red's shoulder. April and Luigi also cheered from the same section.

"Knock 'em dead, Dixie!" DK bellowed from the other side.

"Show them what you've got!" Pacman hollered down to Rocketman.

"Yeah!" Fox and Krystal cheered, rooting together for Samus as fellow Nintendonians and space travelers.

Then there was Sonic's entourage of Mobian fans (Amy, Tails, Knuckles, etc.); a group of Spartans and Serans, including Marcus Fenix; and Solid Snake, who stood quietly with his arms folded, but smiled at Samus as she started up her engine.

"Are you ready to RAAAAAWK?"

Rawk Hawk, an unusually muscular yellow Koopa-bird hybrid with sunglasses and an impressive mane of yellow hair, screamed into his microphone from his perch on a cloud lent to him by a somewhat reluctant Lakitu.

"Seriously… _him_ again? I hate that guy," Bowser grumbled. Rawk Hawk, although not inherently evil or in direct cahoots with Master Hand, had served as commentator of the ill-fated Fourside Smash Tournament that had ended in the city's near-obliteration. As such, any reminders of that particular event did not strike Bowser—or any of the other Smashers, really—with fondness. But the onetime Glitz Pit wrestling champion had an undeniable knack for working up a crowd, and that had earned him the job.

Then an unusual Sack Person, standing at a podium within the stadium, stepped forward and spoke up. Larry da Vinci was a newspaper-bearded, 3D-glasses-wearing Craft Curator, and he was representing the race's host region.

"Welcome," he said, "to the Smash Planet Grand Prix Championship!"

Loud cheering from all around. Spectators from nearly every region of Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft had come either to show their support or to simply enjoy the event.

"Today's race," he went on, "will not only determine the ultimate winner; it will symbolize the union of our worlds in friendly, nonviolent competition."

Wario snickered bitterly from his seat, still peeved about being thwarted by Boo Kirby's interference.

"This tournament has been especially dedicated to some of our best racers who were taken from us during the Second Copyright Wars: Captain Falcon, F-Zero Ace; Bumper the Panda, from Timber's Island; and Diddy Kong, the Champion Chimp. By gathering in this way, we show our mutual enemy, Wizpig, that there is a better way to spread the joys of racing throughout the universe. And it was ultimately Wizpig's underestimating of our common bonds that was his undoing."

Master Chief said nothing, but shifted slightly in his seat. He had been the one whose change of heart had culminated with his decision to slay Wizpig and end the war.

"And so without further ado," da Vinci said, "let the—"

"RAAAAAAAAWWWWK!"

The crowd erupted in an almost deafening roar as a Lakitu carrying a stoplight floated down in front of the six racers. With each bounce, a musical beep accompanied the flashing lights.

Red…

Red…

Yellow…

Green!

And then they were off. Sonic, a crowd favorite, achieved a beginning boost, speeding ahead of the rest with Jigglypuff close behind him. Master Chief and Samus started out slow, but that was because their vehicles were heftier than the rest, and once they got going, their speed would accelerate past that of their smaller competitors. Dixie and Rocketman hit it off in the middle of the pack.

The track lifted out of the stadium, and then dipped down, propelling them straight into the heart of the city. Winding through the busy streets and cardboard buildings, they proceeded in a tight pack—until Item Boxes began to appear.

Sonic produced his Special Item: a Red Spring, which he used to launch himself off the track and over several buildings, skipping a number of turns to land far ahead on the other side. Jigglypuff boosted forward with Triple Mushrooms, but it wasn't nearly enough to keep up with the speedy hedgehog.

Dixie laid a Giant Banana (her Special Item) behind her, leaving Master Chief no room to escape from spinning out. Behind him, Samus felt safe now that the fruity obstacle had already been trampled—but she wasn't prepared when instead of disappearing, the Giant Banana split into three smaller ones, intercepting her path as well.

Meanwhile, Rocketman managed to secure his Special Item: Rocket Fuel. The pink substance had been highly coveted for its explosive properties, and had served as a crucial component in Reeka's Deconstructor and ultimately as the instrument of L.O.G.'s final defeat. And now, the supercharged liquid would serve another purpose in a manifestation no less spectacular than those before.

Sonic may have gained an advantageous bounce, but Rocketman's fuel literally transformed him into a flying rocket, which shot past Jigglypuff and over the buildings, closing in quickly on Sonic.

Soon, the course took a turn into the underground subway system. Only, the curving walls more closely resembled the inside of a giant bendy straw than a traditional stone and metal passage.

Samus managed to boost herself just ahead of Jigglypuff and Dixie before a savage conflict ensued behind her. Master Chief had acquired his Special Item: a long Energy Sword.

"Jiggly!"

The Pokémon swerved to avoid the weapon's strikes. But as the tunnel curved to the right, it caught her from one side and sent her straight into the wall. With glowing blade, Master Chief likewise struck Dixie's kart and came up on Samus.

She had seconds to do something, and she knew no amount of outmaneuvering would get past Master Chief's superhuman, highly trained reflexes. She passed through an Item Box, but came out with a mere Green Shell. With no other option, she threw it at a sharp angle behind her as a deafening horn sounded from ahead.

Master Chief's kart tumbled over itself as the Green Shell, which had been ricocheting off the walls at an unavoidably fast rate, crashed into him. But even as Dixie and Jigglypuff slipped past him, he wasted no time in accelerating once more, wielding his Energy Sword like a jousting stick.

Up ahead, Sonic and Rocketman were neck and neck. But as they approached a subway crossing and the echoing horn grew to a roar, Sonic glanced at his rival in slight panic. That subway sounded very close. Were they really going to try and beat it to the crossing?

Based on Rocketman's unyielding course, evidently they were. One edged past the other every few seconds, and then, just when the crossing was upon them, Rocketman used up the last of his Rocket Fuel, jetting him just enough ahead of Sonic so that by the time he'd crossed, the raging alphabet block shuttle had come between them.

"Agh!" Sonic's vehicle crashed right into a B block, the force slamming him into the ceiling, and then he slowly floated back down, flat as a pancake for several seconds. By the time he was back to normal, the subway was no longer obstructing the track, and he found himself the third unlucky victim of Master Chief's Energy Sword.

"Puff!"

The Balloon Pokémon, despite her efforts to avoid Master Chief thus far, kept glancing behind her as the Spartan approached once more. Dixie had used a Star to push ahead, which made the Puffball the Microsian's only available quarry. She drifted into the rounded wall, completing a full loop-de-loop and grabbing an Item Box off the ceiling along the way. Its roulette stopped on her Special Item, and she smiled.

Her Puff Up attack inflated her body, filling the entirety of the subway tunnel. Master Chief speared the veritable wall of pink with his Energy Sword—only for it and his entire vehicle to absorb into it like a bouncy castle and then catapult back out the opposite direction, swordless and speedless. Even worse—the inflated Pokémon moved so slowly that he and Sonic were surely out of the running.

The track led them out of the tunnel and back into the city, winding up one of the metropolis's tallest skyscrapers, which was topped with a giant ball of yarn like some kind of fuzzy ornament. At one point they actually passed through a window straight into the building, with slightly smaller yarn balls rolling across the leather-carpeted room like wayward boulders from Indiana Jones.

Rocketman maintained a decent lead on both Samus and Dixie, even with the latter two boosting their way forward with the occasional Mushroom—that is, until a particularly errant yarn ball dropped from a trap door in the ceiling and crushed him even flatter than his already two-dimensional figure.

They exited the building at the opposite end, and then continued their climb toward the giant yarn ball at the top. Except, rather than curve over the peak as they had in Cosmo Terminal, this time there was a ramp with a flashing booster lane, with no clear destination in sight.

Samus and Dixie flew off the ramp and soared upward, bumping into each other in hopes of knocking each other off course. But they never could have foreseen the next leg of the race: a magenta tear in the very dimensional fabric of the air, which swallowed them up and transported them to the eerie lair of Negativitron.

It was a shimmering, flashing world somewhat reminiscent of the Battlefields, only the Battlefields weren't home to a host of violent cyclopean Sack People called Meanies, or a titanic evil vacuum nozzle that continuously strove to suck them off the track into endless black abysses within its strange dimension.

Back at the stadium, Rawk Hawk was having the time of his life narrating the race's developments, he and the audience watching one of several giant screens that showed its proceedings.

Solid Snake watched as Samus and Dixie were the first to fall into Negativitron's dimension.

"How did they—" Then he decided to give up on figuring out the logistical challenge of creating a reliable track into another dimension. Whoever was in charge of building these tracks was either a genius or a very dangerous idiot. As it turned out, the idiot had been Waluigi, who had scouted out potential race locations, and the genius had been Larry da Vinci, who had found a way with Sackboy's help to open a rift long enough for the duration of the race, while keeping the tear small enough so that Negativitron couldn't actually break out and unleash havoc upon Little Big City.

Mario and Game & Watch, meanwhile, watched intently for any signs of foul play (outside the normal Red Shells and Blooper Sprays and Mushroom-boosted item swiping). Particularly for foul play that came in the form of Metal Mario or Metal Mr. Game & Watch. But no interruptions of the kind took place. Mario couldn't help feeling both relieved and disappointed; he was tired of wondering what those metal characters' purpose was. Tired of being stranded in the myriad mysteries of his own world.

It was all the two race leaders could do to dodge all the Meanies running across and falling onto the track. And it was slightly more than they could do to avoid being pulled off the track by Negativitron's menacing, incessant sucking. Fortunately, right when they were about to be pulled off the track, they entered another rift back into the dimension they knew.

The final segment was a straight stretch to the finish line, passing over a bridge that overlooked a goopy river of multicolored paint. Samus and Dixie Kong looked at each other and then behind, wondering how they of all racers could be so far in the lead. And then it dawned upon them.

They were the two with the greatest investment in this championship—even more than Wario's greed or Sonic's crowd-pleasing or Master Chief's ambition. Each of them had lost a dear friend and a master racer. Dixie's Diddy, and Samus's Captain Falcon—they felt responsible to honor their memories by doing everything they could to win this race.

Samus's kart, being slightly larger, began to push ahead of Dixie's. Then they acquired their final Item Boxes.

Dixie's was a Bullet Bill, which she promptly used to transform into a giant black bullet and rocket toward the finish line.

Samus's was her Special Item: the Morph Ball. She in turn transformed into a small rolling sphere which accomplished the dual purposes of significantly increasing her speed and dropping flashing red-and-yellow bombs behind her (although they were irrelevant at this point in the race).

They cruised toward the finish line back in the stadium, and then crossed—far too quickly and too close to call.

"Wow!" Rawk Hawk did an epic pose with his arms. "These two sure know how to Rawk! What a close race! Our team's consulting the playback…"

A small crew of Lakitu analysts were gathered around another screen, slowing down and replaying the last moments to determine who crossed first. Finally, after a full minute of review, one of them floated over and told Rawk Hawk their verdict. The Glitz Pit champ's expression became even brighter.

"Ladies and GentleKoopas…this is absolutely incredible! After an intense race, the winner is…both Dixie Kong and Samus Aran! They finished in a perfect tie! Rawk on, dudes!"

The Kongs were screaming with delight now. Fox and Krystal whooped while Snake just smirked and muttered under his breath, "I knew you could do it, kid."

Soon, the racers were all back in the stadium, and a celebration of artistic proportions had begun in the Craftworldian capital. Mario and Game & Watch approached Meta Knight.

"I guess nothing a-bad happened after all," Mario said.

But he spoke too soon.

At that moment, a black vortex slowly stirred up in the sky above the stadium, like a gathering storm of vaporous obsidian. And then it opened, coughing out a single figure and then just as soon closing itself off again.

Smashers and All-Stars and Sentinels alike rushed to see what had happened. Cheers and laughter turned to screams. Meta Knight took the lead in approaching the fallen figure. It was a spiky-haired boy with goofy yellow shoes and a strange, key-shaped sword. He was on his hands and knees, tears streaming down his soot-blackened face, his clothes torn and soiled, his arms lacerated and bleeding.

"Boy," Meta Knight said as gently as he knew how. "What happened? Are you all right?"

Sora didn't turn to face the inhabitants of his new world, but he managed just a few words between broken sobs.

"It's gone…they're all…gone…forever…"

And then he collapsed, and moved no more.


	6. Chapter 4: Lost Worlds

" _There was even a small moment when I thought I could be one of you. Somehow, you made me believe I could find happiness…_

 _but you were wrong."_

 _ **~Conker the Squirrel**_

* * *

Chapter 4: Lost Worlds

* * *

 **Saffron City**

 **Kanto Region**

* * *

 ** _S_** ora didn't wake up for three days.

He was attended to by Nurse Joy in Saffron City's hospital. (Contrary to popular belief, Kanto did in fact have facilities for injured humans as well as Pokémon.) The only ones permitted to check on him were Meta Knight and Solid Snake—who, along with other Sonian leaders, did in fact know who Sora was and where he came from. The Destiny Islands still existed off the southeast end of the Sony World, although they had been abandoned for as long as anyone could remember.

Once the boy awoke and seemed more or less functional, the first thing he told Snake and Meta Knight was that he needed to speak with as many of This World's leaders as possible, as soon as possible. Accordingly, a meeting was organized in the relatively new Saffron Pokémon Gym, where a giant Pokéball-shaped table seated all the Smashers, All-Stars, and Sentinels who were presently available (though many of the Sonian and Microsian representatives were unable to attend because of domestic business). Other key leaders—such as Banjo of New RareWare and Rocketman of Atari—were also present.

And none of them had a clue what Sora was about to tell them.

Meta Knight opened the meeting, Gadd having almost exclusively confined himself to his lab owing to his declining health (the Madame Clairvoya business was a rare exception).

"We are here, fellow defenders of Smash Planet, to hear what Sora has to tell us." His yellow eyes glowed, as piercing as ever. "I would remind you all that this is no stranger knocking at our doorstep, as L.O.G. had been last year. As such, there will be no interrogating of Sora, who has clearly been through an extremely traumatic ordeal. He will speak as much or as little as he wishes, and we will keep our inquiries to a minimum." He turned to Sora and nodded. "The floor is yours."

Sora stood shakily and swallowed. He didn't say anything for a long, awkward moment, dreading the words about to come from his mouth. But it had to be done…if there was to be any hope left for any of them.

"Most of you don't know me," he began. "I'm Sora; my home was on the Destiny Islands, where I grew up with my two best friends, Riku and Kairi. From what Snake's told me about what's been going on here since I left, I guess there've been some crazy villains you've gone up against, like Nightmare, and I guess this L.O.G. person he talked about is responsible for what's happened to all our memories. I don't really remember Nintendo or Microsoft or any of this planet's other islands, either—I was already gone before your Copyright Wars happened. So even you guys from Sony never really knew me that well. But let me tell you why.

"Several years ago, my islands were sucked up into a weird darkness, transporting me and my friends to the Disney Universe. It was a magnificent series of sub-worlds known as Kingdoms—from the dazzling fireworks of Disney Castle to the wonky sights of Wonderland; from the singing crustaceans of Atlantica to the wish-granting genies of Agrabah; from the magical fairies of Radiant Garden to the gods and demigods of Olympus…" His eyes glistened with wistful memories. "It was the most beautiful universe I'd ever known, and though I came back to the Destiny Islands from time to time, those worlds really became my new home.

"But, like your worlds, mine had problems of their own. See, each of the Disney worlds possessed what's called a Kingdom Heart—a tremendous source of power inherent within the lands and people of each world; a power that, all put together, would be pretty much limitless. Such power held our worlds together and kept life and love and happiness alive in our hearts. But as you might guess, unfortunately there were also those who sought that power for other reasons.

"Long before I came to the Disney Universe, there was a man called Xehanort—an evil man who sought to seize the power of Kingdom Hearts for himself. He tried many methods of doing this, and came very close several times. Most of those attempts involved these." He held up his key-shaped weapon. "Keyblades: special swords that can open up the heart of each kingdom, or even the heart of a person.

"His first plan was to reforge the X-Blade—a Keyblade that had been formed in the ancient Keyblade War; a Keyblade that could access all of Kingdom Hearts at once. He was stopped, though, by three Keyblade Wielders: Terra, Aqua, and Ventus.

"The next time was when my friends and I were first taken from the Destiny Islands. Xehanort figured out how to split himself into two other forms: a Heartless, which is a being without feeling or compassion; and a Nobody, which is like a shell of what's left behind when someone becomes a Heartless. Xehanort's Heartless, Ansem, and his Nobody, Xemnas, each tried to unlock Kingdom Hearts for themselves. Both times we chased away the darkness with the light in our hearts—in the hearts of the good people of the Disney Universe."

Sora shook his head and sighed. "I could tell you a lot more—about how Xehanort tried still other methods, like time traveling, or cloning, or using my own Nobody, Roxas, against me. I could tell you about Organization XIII—Xehanort's elite council of Nobodies who sought to use Kingdom Hearts to restore their original selves. Most of them would do anything Xehanort told them in order to get it. But what you really need to know is what happened the last time.

"Xehanort had gathered his armies of Heartless and Nobodies, and used thirteen versions of himself from different time periods to form a new Organization XIII after the old one fell apart. Me, King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, and Riku—all of us went out in search of Keyblade Wielders to fight him. We found them in different Disney worlds, and we even found and rescued Aqua, Ventus, and Terra from Xehanort's different prisons and sleeping curses. Finally, we had all of our Keyblade Wielders against all of his.

"The battle that followed was terrible. We fought his Heartless and his Nobodies and his Wielders in the Keyblade Graveyard, and for a while, it seemed like we were winning. All his other Wielders—besides himself—fell to ours.

"But then…he turned two of our own hearts against us. Terra and Riku had already been possessed by him before, and so it was just that much easier for him to do it again."

Now Sora's face was wet again. The room was dead silent. "All my friends… _all of them_ …died in that final battle. Only Xehanort and I were left in the end, with the Disney worlds falling apart around us as Xehanort absorbed all the Kingdom Hearts. I tried my best…but he was too powerful. I don't even know how I survived; I was just somehow lifted out of the graveyard at the last second, and then dropped onto that racetrack. And while I was being taken away…I heard him swear he would come here next."

A long silence followed. No one seemed to feel like they were the proper one to address the implications of Sora's story.

Finally, Meta Knight spoke.

"Thank you, Sora. I hope you will find your trust in us well placed." He paused. "What became of this Disney Universe, then? Do you hope to restore it?"

Sora's expression was now surely as blank as one of the Nobodies he'd described. "There's nothing to restore. When Kingdom Hearts collapsed, the Disney Universe collapsed with it. It's all gone. Forever."

"I see." Even Meta Knight seemed to sense he was treading on sensitive ground. "When do you think he will come? How long do we have to prepare?"

Sora just shook his head. "There's no way to know. A week…a month…a year… I'm sorry I can't be of more help. But he could come at any time once he uses his new power to track me down. I wish I could leave so he wouldn't come here at all, but there's nothing I can do about it."

"Nothing _you_ can do," Marth said, standing up. "But _we_ —together—all of us—can do something. This Xehanort may have prevailed in your world, but this time we will have something your Disney Universe did not: your experience. You know his tactics, and if we anticipate them, we can prepare ourselves."

Bowser growled in assent, pounding his fist against his palm. "We've come too far to be punked by a bunch of Nobodies. We've fought wars together, face threats bigger than all of us. Me and my troops'll be ready."

"As will mine," Master Chief said.

"And ours," said Solid Snake.

"Us, too," Banjo said.

"WE WILL ALL STAND AGAINST HIM," Rocketman said.

But Sora just shook his head again. "You guys have got a lot going for ya," he said. "You remind me of Disney in a lot of ways, too. I appreciate your enthusiasm; I really do. But you have no idea what you're up against. This isn't the kind of enemy you can beat with armies or brute strength or magic."

Mario raised an eyebrow. "Then how _do_ we beat a-him?"

Sora paused for a long moment.

"You don't."

* * *

 **Princess Peach's Castle**

 **Mushroom Kingdom**

* * *

"You really think we should go through with it, then?"

Mario nodded as he and Link conversed in the throne room, with Princess Peach near her throne and Zelda by her side. The four of them had been given a very rare opportunity, but given recent developments, there was some concern about holding events as celebratory as a marriage.

"It's times like a-these when parties are needed a-most."

Peach smiled graciously, though it was not her typical, regal smile; it was an even warmer, more radiant one. A smile that could only be elicited by a prospect as wonderful as her upcoming union. "Mario's right. And a double wedding will draw even more of our friends. It'll be the best celebration Hyrule's seen since—"

"Since our last party?" Zelda, who seemed to be the one with the greatest doubts about going forward with the marriage plans in light of Sora's tale, couldn't help but recall the last time multiple regions had come to Hyrule Castle: that fateful evening when Master Hand's metal clones had crashed inside and set in motion the War of the Hands. Yet, admittedly, her biggest worry wasn't about threats from without; it was about threats from within.

"Ganondorf is out there somewhere," she said. "Biding his time, likely still in the Gerudo Desert, before making his move. Can we really afford to make merry with such tremendous evil on the loose?"

"I could go to the Gerudo Desert and search for him," Link said, "but we both know that would be like looking for a Deku Nut in the Great Sea. As much as I hate to say it, there's nothing we can do about Ganon right now."

Peach sipped from her tea and set it daintily on a table beside her. "It's settled, then. Our peoples will carry on with the wedding plans, and then in one month from now, Mario and I—and you and Link—will be married. It's so exciting, isn't it?" She cleared her throat and glared at Mario.

"Yes," Mario said quickly, his mind drifting to images of Metal Mario, and of L.O.G. telling him he was nothing but a pawn in a child's videogame. "It's a-gonna be great."

* * *

 **Pallet Town**

 **Kanto Region**

* * *

"Red?"

Delia gently opened the door to his room, where he had been browsing through his Pokédex, wondering which of his faithful friends would be best fit to tackle whatever threat Sora's world had coming their way.

"Yeah?"

She came over and sat on his bed, and spoke softly.

"I've wanted to talk with you ever since that dinner with Gary and Professor Oak—but really, ever since you first got back from Microsoft."

"About what?"

"About your father."

Red sat there, silent, unsure what to say. "What about him?"

"Well…what were you two talking about when you mentioned keeping This World as good as it is, and then your father said he wanted to make it better?"

Red almost just spilled it all out to his mother, right then and there. But for some reason, it just didn't seem right. He leaned back on his pillow with his hands behind his head.

"You'll have to ask him that yourself."

"Ask me what?"

Delia and Red both flinched, not expecting Quentin to enter the room so suddenly. The man, however, appeared to be in as good-natured a mood as ever.

Delia tried to formulate her next words in as nonjudgmental a way as possible. She looked up at him endearingly. "Quentin…I've been concerned…and April has, too…about what your plans are now that you're back with us."

Quentin arched his eyebrow and drew his wife into an embrace, kissing her forehead. "To be with you, of course."

"Yes," she said, pulling away slightly, "but what's your business in Kanto? How exactly are you planning to make it a better place, like you've been saying? Are you returning to the Pokémon League? Are you going to challenge Red for the title of Champion and pick up where you left off?"

That was the moment when Quentin failed to pick up on the fact that Delia actually wanted him to answer in the affirmative. He smiled.

"Of course, not, my dear," he said. He reached over and ruffled Red's hair, although it made the boy strangely uncomfortable. "I would never dream of taking away Red's glory; he's worked so hard for it, and his Spirit Bond with the Pokémon is strong. No, my purpose is to ensure that all crimes against Pokémon cease—forevermore. Beginning with murderers like Giovanni."

"Oh." That seemed to satisfy Delia at least to some degree.

But Red, who had been bottling up his frustration all this time—for over a year now—finally couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't handle pretending to live in a happy family built on lies. No more secrets—just like Quentin had said himself. Red raised himself up with an inexplicable energy.

"Yeah…by _killing every human in Kanto!_ "

There was a horrible silence. Quentin threw Red a hard look and then turned back to Delia's confused expression. But he said nothing. Finally, the woman, almost shriveling up in his arms, whispered three words.

"Is it true?"

Quentin didn't speak for a long time. He seemed to weigh the pros and cons of different levels of disclosure. To deny Red's claim would be to discredit his own son.

"Not everyone, Delia. The slate must be cleansed of the corrupt system of Pokémon slavery, it is true…but we will inherit the new world. We will rebuild Kanto, rebuild the relationship between man and Pokémon, the way it was always meant to be. Together. Can't you see why this must be so?"

But Delia was now beyond horrified. She shoved Quentin away and backed up to Red's side.

"How…could you?"

Quentin looked sad that his wife was taking it this way, but he didn't relent. "The Pokémon will it so. I am merely here to carry it out."

Delia shook her head, her voice trembling. "I thought the man I loved had finally come back, after all these years, to be a proper husband and father. But I should have known it was too good to be true; your obsession with Pokémon mysticism, and more so with acting the part of 'Chosen One,' has turned you into someone else. _Something_ else."

"Delia," he said, reaching for her—only for her to spring back from him. "I realize what this seems like, but you must give me a chance to explain. Everything I have ever done—everything I plan to do—it's all for you! For Red! For April! Can I truly profess to love our children if I allow them to be raised in a fallen, misguided, evil world? This is the only way. My years of wandering have shown me this truth. Please—if you cannot understand the will of the Pokémon, just trust me."

For a fleeting moment, it looked like Delia was actually going to go for Quentin's justification. But ultimately, her undeviating moral core that valued all life, both human and Pokémon—which she had passed on to her son—won out.

"Get out."

"Delia, I—"

"I said, _get out of my house!"_

 _"Please—"_

 _"GET OUT!"_

Finally, Quentin stopped resisting. He turned to Red with a solemn expression.

"Son…one day you will understand: To be chosen is not always the same as being accepted. Be ready—for the next time we meet, Kanto's purging will have reached its climax."

And without another word, he whisked past Delia's red, tear-stained face; down the stairs; and out the front door. Red turned to watch him use the Omni Ball to summon Gardevoir, which, with a white twinkle, Teleported them both out of sight.

Delia collapsed onto her knees and buried her face in her hands, sobbing as an awakened April walked naïvely into the room.

"What happened?" she asked Red, rubbing drowsiness from her eyes.

"He's gone." Red felt as if a wrecking ball had gone to work inside his heart and mind. "Dad's gone."

* * *

Though the current "world peace" was questionable in many parts of Smash Planet, that of the islands of New RareWare was not. In fact, for Banjo & Kazooie and the rest, better times had never been had among them.

Banjo and the other leaders of New RareWare had restored the queerly shaped headquarters in Cloud Cuckoo Land above the Isle o' Hags, and from there they had succeeded in making their remote kingdoms virtual utopias.

On the Isle o' Hags, under the direction of King Jingaling, the Jinjos had begun to reproduce once more, and as such they had rebuilt the demolished homes of the ten Jinjo families, creating a prosperous village of magic that seemed just as invigorating to the rest of the island as the power of the Jiggies. After Mumbo Jumbo's death at the hands of Gruntilda the Witch, Humba Wumba was now the sole shaman in the land, but she had risen to the occasion brilliantly.

On Timber's Island, Dixie Kong had taken up residence and directed Timber and the other remaining racers in organizing new races—though without Taj, Diddy, Bumper, and even Conker and Wizpig, their lineup of racers needed expanding. Dixie had been working with Banjo on recruiting new drivers to the roster, and so far had enlisted Pacman and Conker's old girlfriend, Berri.

With DK Isle long since sunk, that left only the island of Atari. Rocketman had experienced no problems in regulating the two-dimensional world, ensuring the once-belligerent Space Invaders never gathered behind a new queen or did anything else to merit their name.

As for the kingdoms on the Microsian mainland which had once belonged to RareWare, delegates were still sent from the Enchanted Kingdom (Kameo), Willow Woods (Berri), and the Carrington Institute (Joanna Dark). This was mostly just a formality and an upholding of tradition, however, since none of these regions were any longer at odds with the rest of Microsoft. The New RareWare, in sum, had done nothing but enhance the quality of life of its direct constituents as well as that of their neighboring worlds.

* * *

 **Central City**

 **Megaland**

* * *

Megaman and Bass were in hot pursuit.

The two Mavericks (rogue robots) in question were not making it easy for them, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, their metal insect wings flicking open and closed with each jump to extend their airtime.

"Don't let 'em get away!" Megaman yelled, firing a continuous stream of laser pellets from his arm cannon as they made chase. He summoned his mechanical bird friend, Beat, who bore him across a particularly wide gap, while Bass kept up by riding his jet-propelled canine partner, Treble.

Bass fired a fully charged turquoise Mega Buster, blasting one of the Mavericks in the back.

"Take that, Maverick scum!"

They alighted on the next building, the computer matrix-like sky glowing above them with neon green against a midnight blue backdrop, the noise and lights and commotion of Central City astir. With no nearby rooftops to run to this time, the unharmed Maverick turned to behold his fallen ally and the approaching Maverick Hunters.

"You rusty old robots don't know when to quit, do you?" Boom Kuwanger buzzed. He resembled a mix between a Stag Beetle and a red knight, with blue-armored shoulder blades and razor-sharp pincers like horns protruding from his sleek metal head. He reached up and detached both pincers, tossing one at Megaman like a boomerang.

Megaman strafed to the side. "You're gonna have to do better than that!"

But he hadn't counted on Boom Kuwanger's extreme speed, which had conveyed the enemy almost instantaneously to another spot right behind him.

Megaman cried out as the second pincer sliced his back, and he just managed to roll forward before the Maverick could go for another strike.

Meanwhile, Bass approached the grounded Gravity Beetle, who, true to his name, resembled a blue-armored Hercules Beetle, the twin tips of his "antlers" like sharpened, curving icicles. Bass smirked.

"Hope you like crawling around prison cells, little bug."

But the feigning Maverick suddenly twisted toward him and fired a mass of purple-gray energy off the edge of the building. This would have made little sense, except the mass seemed to congeal in midair a short distance over the gap, and then it did what Gravity Wells were made to do: pull objects toward it.

Bass yelled as his body was drawn unwillingly toward the amoeba-like mass, little slivers of metal slicing him all over along with the pressurized pain of the intense gravity field. Before he was drawn completely into what was more or less a tiny black hole, he managed to fire a series of increasingly larger Tic-Tac shapes called Ray Splashers in a sort of spreadshot which all converged on the Gravity Well at once, shorting it and causing it to dissipate. But even so, Bass found himself barely grabbing onto the roof ledge as the force of normal gravity claimed its dues.

"You're gonna pay for vandalizing that Dr. Light statue!" Megaman said, turned about frantically to prevent Boom Kuwanger from sneaking up on him, while also discreetly shifting the nozzle of his arm cannon to another function. Dr. Light was the benevolent professor who had first created Megaman and many of the other bots. Since then, other engineers with less savory motives, such as Dr. Wily, had built their own robots, but Megaman had always come through in putting a stop to whatever Wily or other villains—both human and robot—might have been planning.

"Yeah? I don't think so."

Out of the corner of his eye, Megaman saw Boom Kuwanger reappear; but before the Maverick could slash him with another pincer-boomerang, Megaman fired three Homing Torpedoes into the air, one of which made for the enemy's current position.

Boom Kuwanger laughed as he sped around to the other side, the torpedo crashing uselessly on the spot where he had just been. "Is that the best you can—"

He hadn't counted on the two other Homing Torpedoes, which Megaman had programmed to wait patiently for Boom Kuwanger to move before closing in. The two resulting explosions blasted the insectoid onto his back, unable to right himself.

Megaman turned to bail Bass out of his predicament, with Gravity Beetle about to smash his hands and send him to the city streets far below. But then something strange happened.

A high-pitched static rang from some unknown source, briefly discombobulating Megaman—but causing a smile to appear on Gravity Beetle's metal face. The Maverick turned away from Bass and looked up at the gridded sky, as if the ringing noise were some kind of signal.

"It's your lucky day, you obsoletes," he said, strangely unconcerned about Megaman's poised weapon. "Commander Sigma calls to us. But don't worry—we'll be back…"

And just like that, both Boom Kuwanger and Gravity Beetle dissolved into pixilated clouds and were gone, like sugar cubes dropped into a mug of hot cocoa.

Megaman pulled Bass back onto the roof. His dark-armored friend grunted his thanks.

"I thought Sigma was long gone," Bass muttered. "Ever since the Maverick Hunters defeated him and the rest of those friggin' glitches."

"Yeah," Megaman said, gazing up at the digital sky. "I thought so, too…"

* * *

 **Wumpa Island**

 **Tasmanian Islands**

* * *

"Serve's up, dudes!"

Crash Bandicoot lobbed the volleyball over the net, a salty sea breeze carrying it slightly to the left, straight toward the waiting figure of Spyro the dragon.

Spyro lazily breathed a small puff of flames, the force of which was nonetheless sufficient to return it just onto the top of the net. It bounced off the net and dropped onto the bandicoots' side in spite of the efforts of Coco—Crash's sister—to dive through the sand and save it.

Spyro cheered with his friends: Cynder, his self-proclaimed girlfriend (proclaimed by Spyro, that is); Hunter, a bow-wielding cheetah; and Sheila, his kangaroo friend.

Crunch Bandicoot, Crash's bulky red adopted brother, growled and pounded his feet into the soft surface. "Dragon no play fair; cheap shot make Crunch mad!"

"Oh, honey, it's just a game," cooed Tawna, Crash's equally self-proclaimed girlfriend (proclaimed by Crash, that is). She strode over to Crunch and stroked his arm, calming him down, her long golden tresses and lipstick and girly outfit contrasting sharply with Coco's almost tomboyish mechanic's t-shirt and yellow trousers.

Wumpa Island, home of the Bandicoot clan, was about as much a tropical paradise as anyone could ask for—with long, perfect creamy beaches; a balmy, fruit-smelling environment; and a beautiful view of the island's famous giant Uka Tree, along with some forests and a volcano toward the other end. From here, one could even see the distant shoreline of the Dragon Realm on the Sonian mainland. It was a great place for a vacation, and for a beach party celebrating Crash's Top 12 status in the Smash Planet Grand Prix.

"All right, you blighters," Crash said. "Get ready for a Spinning Tsunami!" He began spinning until he was naught but an orange tornado—but before he could cast the volleyball over the net, a small yellow-green speck sped into his ear and ruined his serve. Instead of going over the net, it flew straight out to sea—a least a hundred feet.

"WHOA! What the heck was that?" Crash yelled as he picked at his ear. Sparx, Spyro's hybrid firefly/dragonfly friend, had been the perpetrator, and he was buzzing indignantly, not appearing even a little apologetic about disturbing their game.

"Seriously, guys?" he said, flittering across the court to face Spyro. "Spyro, the Dragon Guardians've been waiting for you for hours. If they find out you've been playing hooky with these warm-bloods, they'll singe your eyebrows off."

Spyro snorted. "I don't _have_ eyebrows. Besides, Ignitus and the other Guardians are a bunch of—"

"A bunch of what, young dragon?"

Everyone on the beach froze as a huge shadow passed over them. Ignitus, chief of the Dragon Guardians, was a magnificent scarlet dragon the size of fully grown T-Rex, his wrinkled, leathery scales and ancient webbed wings making obvious just how young Spyro's slick, unscarred body was. An even deeper scarlet burned in his sagely eyes below his jagged ivory horns, great puffs of steam blowing from his nostrils with each sand-scattering wingbeat as he settled just short of crushing the volleyball net.

"Blimey," Crash breathed.

Spyro blinked guiltily up at Ignitus. "Oh, uh…hi there, Master Ignitus! Fancy seeing you here, eh?" He looked to his friends for support, but found none. They had all backed away, leaving him singled out against the Dragon Guardian's condemning stare.

Ignitus's voice was like a thunderstorm in and of itself. "Spyro…" he boomed. "It is not wrong for you to want to enjoy yourself with your friends. But when you neglect your training with the Guardians as the last Purple Dragon to pursue frivolous pleasures… _that_ is where the line must be drawn."

Spyro looked like a frightened dog. "I…I'm sorry, Master Ignitus. I understand."

An angry spark shot from the Guardian's nostril, nearly catching Hunter's tail on fire. _"Do you_ understand, young one? I am not sure that you do. It is true that the Dark Dragon, Malefor, has been vanquished from our lands. But surely our wars with Microsoft and recent events in Cosmo Terminal and Craftworld are sufficient to drill into your head that there is no safety when heroes let down their guard! And what is more…there are whisperings, in some parts of Smash Planet, that remnants of L.O.G.'s memory tricks—Memory Paradoxes—have begun to arise in the form of old enemies— _reborn_. _Do you understand what this means?_ "

Spyro gulped. He hadn't thought of that. And now that he had, he wished he hadn't, images of terrible dragon and ape battles flashing through his memory. "You mean to say…Malefor could return?"

Ignitus said nothing; in answer, he simply took off, blowing Coco and Sheila off their feet entirely, and sending Sparx almost as far out to sea as the volleyball.

"The Guardians expect you in twenty minutes, Spyro," his deep voice echoed back. "Twenty minutes."

* * *

 **The Cobalt Club**

 **Mute City**

* * *

Much of the past year had been spent repairing the damage caused by Reeka's Deconstructor, which had begun to sink the Nintendonian continent before being destroyed, leaving coastal communities partially flooded. Mute City, spreading across much of the northern coast, had been particularly hard-hit by the event, though by now electricity had been restored and water-damaged structures were well on their way to being repaired.

But the Cobalt Club—the bar in which Jody Summer and Samus were meeting—still retained signs of the damage: wrinkled posters; shorted lights; cracked television screens; faulty speakers; and so on. Yet it was still up and running, for the owners couldn't afford to halt business for long, even if the place's quality took a bit of a hit. As a result, its patrons tended to be lower-class aliens with insatiable drinking problems and shallow pockets.

The two women ladled wriggling, worm-like noodles from their soup into their mouths, having chosen this place not for its quality, but for its nostalgic significance. This had been the same neon-lit pub in which, years ago, Samus and Jody had met for the first time. Back then, the former had been accompanied by Professor E. Gadd, Roy, Young Link, and Fox, while the latter had been accompanied by Dr. Theodore Clash and Dr. Robert Stewart—two fellow F-Zero pilots.

But those days were long gone. Since then, Gadd and Clash had both been more or less crippled by L.O.G.; Young Link had weirdly merged with his older self; and Dr. Stewart had been killed by Metal Captain Falcon. Not to mention the gaping absence of Captain Falcon himself, even though he hadn't been with them at the time.

"So how's Theodore doing?" Samus asked, her hardened face relaxed for once with her Chozo Suit's helmet at her side.

"He's fine," Jody said, her expression untroubled for once. "They take good care of him at the facility, and he's even been known to whip up a miniature racer every now and then—much to the annoyance of his fellow tenants."

Samus laughed. "Sounds like Clash all right."

"And Elvin," Jody said. "How's he?"

"Pretty active, actually," Samus said. "All things considered. I mean, he isn't piloting hovercrafts or racecars anymore, but he keeps himself busy with his historical research on the Smash Universe."

"Oh?" Jody looked curious. "Anything interesting finds lately?"

"Apparently, he and a couple others went out to that old haunted mansion and had some kind of séance with a fortunetelling ghost, whose 'prophecy' basically comes down to bad stuff happening in the future that we'll have to stop."

"Right." Jody took a sip from a swirling pink-and-green drink. "Congrats on the race, by the way. You and that chimp sure put on quite a show."

Samus just nodded. "And you…why didn't you join the Grand Prix again? Seems like it would've been right up your alley."

At that, Jody's eyes grew a bit distant. "Oh, I've been busy with…Federation stuff, and all. Nothing too crazy."

"Really." Samus's disbelief was apparent both in her voice and on her face. "So you haven't been taking up a certain familial mantle of vigilante justice?"

Jody then refocused, smiling. "Actually, that's why I wanted to talk to you. It's good to see you, too, of course…but being an agent in the Federation, I'm somewhat limited in what they allow me to investigate, and lately things've been getting sticky. There's only so much a girl in a helmet can do."

"I dunno…" Samus fiddled with her complex arm cannon. "I know some helmeted individuals who've done some pretty incredible things."

"Anyway," Jody said, "the reason you're here. Ever since the Space Pirate War, we've had outlaws aplenty to hunt down, even with most of Goroh's gang under lock and key. There's a killer out there now—beyond the everyday thievery and fraud—and whoever it is, they're proving hard to catch. I was hoping for some…professional help."

Samus frowned. "A killer, huh? Who are their victims? Any patterns?"

"Yes, in fact."

Jody placed a tablet device in front of Samus, which displayed images of several rotating figures of various species. All of them were shown in racing uniforms, with their vehicles beside them.

"Silver Neelson…John Tanaka…even Michael Chain…"

"All F-Zero racers," Samus concluded.

Jody nodded. "There are only a handful of outlaws who've been known to target racers…and most of them are dead or behind bars. Just one of them has evaded capture—my brother's greatest enemy on and off the track. Black Shadow."

The very name sent a chill down Samus's spine. But now she was interested—almost excited—as only a bounty hunter could be. She leaned forward. "Sounds like quite the charmer. I'm in. Got any leads to get started?"

"Only this."

Jody handed her a sinister-looking pistol, with serrated edges and a scope that resembled a set of bull horns. The dark bull theme was definitely Black Shadow's thing.

"We've got his prints, but unfortunately, it's not exactly easy to trace someone through space. We need your skills…and maybe someone else with some stealth and tracking expertise."

"Stealth and tracking, huh?" Samus allowed herself a small smile. "I think I know just the guy."

* * *

Solid Snake immediately agreed to join the party. Partly because he was naturally interested in manhunting, but mostly because it was Samus who had called in the favor. After Samus's call from Mute City, Snake made sure Shadow Moses Island was set in order (which didn't take long, considering he was still the only person who lived there) and took one of Gadd's purple foil-like portals to the Cobalt Club.

He hugged Samus and shook Jody's hand before joining them in the stall.

"Ms. Summer; it's good to see you again. I hear you have a security problem."

Jody nodded. "We only met briefly last year, Snake, but Aran sent for you with high recommendations."

Samus didn't blush, but Snake imagined to himself that she almost did. "Good. I would highly recommend myself, too." No one laughed. He cleared his throat. "So what's the job? Tell me about this Black Shadow."

"He was a vicious criminal who sometimes barged in on F-Zero races," Jody said, "often resulting in one or more pilots' deaths. He had a particular loathing for my brother—partly because Falcon always outraced him, but also because he would always foil Black Shadow's evil plans. The last anyone saw of him, he'd been working with a supervillain called Deathborn who was bent on destroying the galaxy or some such nonsense. But Deathborn and the power he sought were destroyed by Falcon, leaving Black Shadow on the loose."

"Good." Snake set down his glass and glanced at Samus, his face stone-like. "Before we get started, I have only one question: What's the strongest drink you've got in this place?"

* * *

 **Saffron City**

 **Kanto Region**

* * *

Slippy was horribly embarrassed.

In the central park of Saffron City, which had been restored since Master Hand's attack two years ago, he and Team Star Fox were having, of all things, a picnic. There was Fox, and Falco, and Peppy, and Krystal. There was Lucy, a light gray rabbit who was known as an ace Cornerian pilot and astrophysicist, but perhaps more famously as Peppy Hare's daughter. But the vast majority of the picnic's attendees were Toads—not Mushroom Kingdom Toads, but froglike members of his own family. Together, they formed a colorful colony of energetic amphibians, from his parents to his dozens of small hopping siblings, to his sickly yellow-green uncle, Beltino Toad, who had at least helped out with the Aparoid invasion. And finally, there was his girlfriend, Amanda, a slender pink frog who was an even less apt pilot than himself.

While all of the non-frogs were sitting or standing civilly around picnic tables enjoying some of Kanto's finest barbecued food, the Toad children (who grew their limbs from tadpole infancy very early on) were racing about, kicking soccer balls and flinging water balloons and tugging on Peppy's ears and Krystal's tail and doing pretty much all in their power to preclude any degree of peace at this gathering. And Slippy couldn't decide whether he was more afraid of how Amanda would see him after this, or how Fox and his friends would see him. After all, Falco already thought him rather subpar. And appropriately so.

He approached the table with Fox and the others, Amanda clinging to his side like a fly to his tongue. It looked like everyone was laughing at one of Falco's dark-humored jokes.

"What's up, guys?"

Fox turned to him. "Oh, hey, Slippy! Falco was just telling us about the time Lanky Kong and a butterfly almost got him killed in Strangereal." He sipped a soda. "Thanks for putting this party together. It's real good to have all of us here for once."

"Yeah, don't mention it!" _All of us here._ His bright expression dimmed a bit. "Too bad not everyone could make it. General Pepper and Bill were too busy with the Fleet, and I couldn't even get ahold of Katt, or Dash, or even Wolf."

At the mention of Wolf O'Donnell's name, Fox, too, was suddenly sobered. No one had seen him since the War of the Hands, in which his wingman Panther Caruso had been killed, leaving him and Leon Powalski the sole surviving members of Team Star Wolf. Fox wondered what had become of him. Perhaps after all this business with Sora, he would go look him up at the Sargasso Hideout in Lylat. They weren't exactly friends, but based on how much the two teams had helped each other with the past several threats to Lylat, he felt there was a grudging respect between them that merited at least the occasional acknowledgment.

"Oh, you young'uns are always abroad doin' who-knows-what," Peppy said with a chuckle. "Even Pepper—that hound dog might seem mature on the outside, but inside he's still a pup. Why, your father…"

But they never got to hear what Peppy had to say about James McCloud, for when the hare caught sight of the Monkey Arrow landing not too far away, his furry, crinkled old face beamed. "Well, I'll be! Looks like Mister Bowman's breakin' his personal 'no fun' protocol after all!"

They watched as the Arwing powered off, the engines no longer blowing the grass, flowers, and deciduous trees. The cockpit opened, and then, a few moments later, Dash walked out to meet them.

"Dash!" Fox exclaimed. But he was a bit taken aback. Dash looked a lot more mature than when they'd last met. Although he had always taken his job in the Fleet very seriously, his youthfulness still came out from time to time. Now, however, standing there in his pilot's suit, his short white hair curving into a point above his dark brown face, Dash looked like he had seen a ghost and had instantly aged as a result.

The monkey gave a small smile. "Hello, friends. Sorry I'm so late; I didn't get Slippy's transmission 'till I got out of a particularly dark nebula. I came as quickly as I could."

"Well, don't just stand there, kiddo!" Beltino Toad shoved a hot dog and a soda into Dash's hands and put an arm around him, bringing him forward to join the rest. "Tell us; how was your vacation time? Didja get the R&R you were looking for?"

Dash stood there awkwardly, almost as if in a trance. Finally, he spoke. "As a matter of fact, I did, Mr. Toad; thanks." He turned to face Fox specifically. "Fox. I've had some time to think, and I believe I have a proposal for you."

"Yeah?" Fox was intrigued; Dash rarely opened himself to others like this. "Whatcha got?"

Dash cleared his throat, as if he were about to give an acceptance speech.

"I want to join the Star Fox Team."

Falco raised an eyebrow, and all four members (not counting Krystal's undefined status as an occasional participant) glanced at each other in surprise.

Fox stroked his chin. His first instinct was to say yes. Dash had fought with distinction for several years: the Anglar Blitz; the Aparoids' assault on the Falcon Flyer in Corneria City; the Wire Frames in the War of the Hands; and the Microsians in the Second Copyright Wars. He was also an honorable soldier and a good friend. And yet, there seemed something off—something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Eerily familiar, even. But he wondered…was the "something off" part his fault or Dash's?

"Well, I, for one, am all for it, bro," Falco said, giving him a thumbs-up. "You've got some serious skills."

Slippy nodded. "It'd be great to have you with us, in my opinion!"

Peppy looked like he was about to speak, but then he sighed. "You're the team leader here, Fox. This is your decision, regardless of how any of us might feel about it."

Peppy's point then directed Fox's attention to Krystal. She was staring at him with…was that contempt? Then it dawned on him: If he accepted Dash as an official Star Fox member right now, he would be implicitly excluding Krystal—and he had a feeling she would not see it in a less-than-sexist way. But the fact was, he'd long refused to make Krystal a full-fledged member because he worried for her safety the most. She was a decent enough pilot, but her upbringing by dinosaurs as an indigene didn't exactly make her the most instinctive space fighter in the galaxy.

Dash could see Fox's hesitation and was quick to make his case. "I know—you already have four, and Star Wolf often had only three. But think of all the good we could do! With your leadership, and Falco's talent, and Slippy's mechanical genius, and Peppy's experience and wisdom, and my quick-thinking instincts, we'd make an unstoppable force—even if every villain in the known universe tried to invade us!"

Fox took a deep breath. This was a lose-lose situation for him. He didn't want to disappoint Dash, and a certain part of him wanted the young pilot to join, no questions asked. But Krystal was the most important person in his life, and if he ever did anything to put her in unnecessary danger—whether it be physical by letting her join the team, too, or emotional by making her feel even more excluded than she already felt—he'd never be able to forgive himself. No, there was only one way to go with this.

"Dash," he said carefully, standing and putting a brotherly hand on Dash's shoulder. "In every way, you're qualified to join this team. But the fact is, we don't need you in Star Fox right now; we need Major Bowman in the Cornerian Fleet, keeping the peace throughout the Lylat System."

"But—" Dash protested.

"No." Fox shook his head. Geez, this was hard. "I'm sorry, Dash, but you can't join the team. Not right now, at least. Maybe someday, when Peppy's retired and Slippy's off and married—" (Slippy blanched at this, while Amanda gave him an affectionate look) "—maybe then there'll be an opening for ya. But for now, just keep doing what you're doing in the Fleet; that's where you belong, buddy."

"Where I belong…" Oddly, Dash didn't appear angry or disappointed by Fox's rejection. If anything, he looked even more distant than before, with a Pandora's Box of emotion hidden inside that no one knew about, or cared to know about.

He didn't even say goodbye. He just began wandering back to his ship.

"Dash!" Slippy tried to wave him down. "Hey, Dash! Don't go already; you just got here! You gotta try some of Mama's fruit salad, or play a round of cards with us at least!"

But Dash paid them no heed. Within a minute, the Monkey Arrow was up and running again, and then it lifted off. The wind blown by the engines seemed somehow less friendly than before as the Arwing took off into the atmosphere with the outer space equivalent of a slammed door.

Fox watched Dash's ship disappear, feeling awful. The next thing he felt, however, was Krystal's body next to his, and her arms encircling his waist from the side.

"You did the right thing, Fox," Krystal said.

Fox, however, couldn't take his eyes off the now-empty sky.

"I sure hope so."

* * *

 **Arbiter's Grounds**

 **Hyrule**

* * *

Ganondorf returned to the Mirror Chamber one last time. This time, when he left, he would be free. Free from the Hand of Fate; free from the Demon King which he now knew compelled him to fail against Link and Zelda over, and over, and over again—endlessly.

The night was dark, a few wall-mounted torches illuminating the cracked pillars. He walked slowly toward the dais where he had once been chained and slain by the Council of Sages, and where the mirror serving as a portal between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm had been shattered by its queen, Midna. Now, he was going to take another journey of sorts—a journey into the shadows within himself. And somehow, even though he'd seen the Demon himself only once, after days of meditation he simply knew what to do.

He stood before the mirror's metal frame, and then knelt—not in submission, but in preparation to experience tremendous power. He closed his eyes and allowed the heat of his magic to flow through his blood from his core to his fingertips, creating auras of purple energy and causing the Triforce of Power to gleam brightly upon his hand. He became excited in a way he hadn't felt since the Demon had begun to feed off of the soul of one of the past Zeldas—the royal princesses who were in fact the High Goddess Hylia incarnate, passing on from generation to generation just as the spirit of the Hero found its champion in every age, and the soul of the Demon King took up residence in each of its chosen vessels. An eternal cycle, never to be broken.

Until now.

He began to laugh, the electric surge of the power within him causing an undeniable sense of elation. Maybe being merged with a demon wasn't so bad after all.

 _"That is right, Ganondorf. Consider yourself blessed. Or cursed. Whichever suits your fancy."_

Suddenly, Ganondorf felt his excited energy channel into an uncontained rage. He slammed his left fist into the earth, rending the dais in two and transporting himself into a world of gray nothingness.

At least, he thought it was nothing until he realized, upon closer examination, that he was standing on a flat surface that stretched infinitely in every direction, reflecting the storm clouds in the sky above. He pivoted his gaze, but found himself alone in an endless void.

"WHERE ARE YOU?" He drew his heavy broadsword, which was almost the length of his own body.

 _"I have always been here."_

He swiveled around once more and beheld Demise, standing less than ten feet away, his fiery hair rippling, his eyes boring into him from twelve feet above the ground. His immense, muscular figure, however, wasn't what made him a terror. It was the pure, unmitigated evil emanating from his every fiber, corrupting the very air around him in a malignant haze of hateful heat. It was, in fact, that very same energy Ganondorf had just felt as he'd knelt in the Mirror Chamber—the embodiment of his dark power.

But now that they were face to face—separate—Ganondorf felt none of it. He was just a man.

The Gerudo pointed his blade at Demise. "You think you control me?"

Demise grinned with teeth like black coals. _"Control you? I_ AM _you. I am your past…present…and future. I am the fountain which gives you life, which gives you purpose. I am the sole reason you have lived anything but a weak, useless existence. And now you come here, claiming you would be rid of me."_

Though this part of him was not possessed by a demon, Ganondorf was still perfectly capable of feeling rage. And he felt it now—in great abundance.

"My purpose? _Your_ purpose is to perpetuate an everlasting grudge—to plague Hyrule only to lose forevermore. What kind of fool would I be to want that destiny?"

Demise frowned. _"We do not lose always. You reigned for seven years over Hyrule, and for a great deal longer during each of the Dark Ages between the Hero's and Hylia's incarnations. It is true that we suffer in our endeavors…but causing even greater suffering among those we hate makes it worth the pain, and drives us to rise again stronger each time, like a wrathful phoenix."_

Ganondorf shook his head. "Now that I have seen my past lives…I know far too much to go on in this wretched way. Having my fate sealed for me is worth no price of sated vengeance—even against one so loathsome as the Hero of Legend. It is time…for you to leave."

A deep, rumbling boom echoed through the gray wasteland, which Ganondorf assumed at first was a crack of thunder, but then realized it was in fact Demise's laughter.

 _"You think yourself at liberty to escape your destiny? Then you are an even greater fool than Hylia. There is no_ escape _from who you are, Ganondorf._ You _are the Demon King._ WE _are the Demon King, and nature, no matter how much it favors Hylian weakness over our strength, cannot deny us our limitless inheritance. We are bound, you and I…until your present body perishes. And then, fear not; I shall find us another!"_

Ganondorf had had enough talk. He raised his sword. "I will be your puppet no longer, Demon Soul. If you cannot depart willingly, then I shall expel you piece by piece!"

More laughter. Demise raised his own immense blade, which was obsidian black and glowed like molten embers. _"I realize your mind has been confounded by the Great Convergence, Ganondorf, so I will give you this one chance to amend your mistake. But cross me now, and whatever individuality is left of your own self will be annihilated…and only_ I _shall remain. You have died many a time…but do you really wish to suffer_ True Death? _"_

Ganondorf did not reply, but ran forward and brought down his blade toward Demise's inhuman body, only to be blocked by the Demon's own weapon.

Demise channeled a full bolt of lightning from the sky into his body and then into the sword. It created a shockwave which blasted Ganondorf some twenty feet away.

 _"Without me, you are weak."_

Ganondorf grunted with frustration, jumped to his feet, and came again, this time diving forward with his sword pointed straight at Demise's chest.

It bounced off the body as if Demise were hewn of solid diamond, snapping Ganondorf's sword in half and jarring his hands and leaving him with nothing but a glorified dagger.

Demise lifted a hand to the sky, causing several more bolts to absorb into him, then generated an energy ball very similar to the ones Ganondorf had once cast at the Hero of Time. But this one appeared to be made of fire, and lightning, and darkness all at once.

The sphere seemed to shatter every bone in Ganondorf's body, burst every blood vessel, snap his brain stem and impale his heart a hundred times over. He screamed as he dropped onto his face, unable to move. The massive form of Demise approached him, his shadow darkening Ganondorf's vision until all he could see were the flickering lights of Demise's conflagrant mane.

 _"Thank you,"_ Demise said, _"for giving me free reign. Perhaps without the burden of your trace humanity, I will extend my epochs of darkness over Hyrule for so long that Hylia and her hero will lose heart, and finally succumb to the power of the Triforce as I was always meant to wield it. But do not despair, for I shall use your body well. Or rather…_ do _despair, for this will be your last glimpse of life—in any incarnation. Farewell…King of the Gerudos."_

The Demon King's blade, called Ghirahim, pierced the flesh of Ganondorf's soul.


	7. Chapter 5: Where We Belong

" _If I have learned anything today, it is that alone, we are weak; but together, we are strong. I had been so focused on our objective that I'd forgotten why the Smash Brothers were formed in the first place: to face threats as a united body we could never overcome alone."_

 _ **~Quill**_

* * *

Chapter 5: Where We Belong

* * *

 **Mountain #32**

 **Icicle Mountains**

* * *

 ** _N_** ana heaved herself over the steep cliff edge, fastened her belay line onto a jagged protrusion of ice, and leaned back over the cliff, giving her twin brother a nod and a thumbs-up.

"Climb!" she said.

Popo made quick work of closing the distance between them, using the climbing rope to walk up the slippery face and join his sister.

Even with the stamina of Sherpas, the Ice Climbers panted as they looked out at the beautiful view laid out before them: snowcapped mountains like jagged teeth with bits of chocolate and broccoli stuck in between, the snow sparkling in the pale sunlight like sugar crystals. Nitpickers—red pterodactyl-like creatures—streaked across the sky here and there. But this good weather wouldn't last long; a dark mass of storm clouds was quickly approaching from the east.

"Let's go," Popo said, pointing toward the peak ahead—the tallest peak in the entire mountain range, in all of Nintendo. "Before the blizzard."

Though the two sibling Smashers felt little in the way of coldness with their thick parkas and naturally insulated bodies, they knew the rapid winds of a snowstorm could be dangerous no matter how experienced a climber might be. But fortunately, they had almost reached their destination, and they had no intention of attempting a descent in such turbulent weather.

They found the remains of Professor Ulysses Reeka's mountain laboratory on the south side of the peak, built into Mountain #32 like a bunker, with just a couple steel domes visible above the surface. After the War of the Hands, the Ice Climbers had overseen the lab's dismantling by certain physically destructive Smash Brothers (most of them being Pokémon from Kanto's Elite Four which could melt, shred, or short-circuit the sinister site's machinery). All the biological experiments and various unknowable machines were long gone, but the underground chambers themselves remained; you never knew when such a hideout might come in handy.

Popo used his ice pick to scrape off a particular patch of ice on the cavernous mountain face. After several minutes of hacking away at the thick accumulated ice, he'd uncovered a metal panel with a faintly blinking red light. He pressed his hand against the light, at which point it turned green, and with a crack, one of the domes opened like a hatch, with a metal ladder leading down inside the mountain.

Nana led the way; they both slid down the rails and worked together to crank open a frosted vault wheel which led into the still-heated heart of the base.

It was empty: plain metal walls, with some rust and dents and scratches and chemical stains here and there, but without a single piece of furniture or appliance save for the bright plasma bulbs which served as both heaters and light sources. The faint hum of these lights was the only sound to be heard, the encroaching blizzard outside completely muted by the vault door, which Popo closed behind him to keep out the cold. But then, because the air felt stuffy and uncomfortably warm, he opened it again before they wandered further inside.

"I know we both had that dream about this place," Nana said as they wandered along the barren chamber which was about twice the size of their homely Freezy Cavern. "But there doesn't seem to be anything here. D'you think it was just a weird coincidence?"

Popo shook his head as they went through an empty doorway and up some stairs into another room, smaller than the first. "There've been way too many strange visions and stuff lately; it's all gotta be for a reason."

The smaller rooms, for some reason, were even more unsettling than the rest—perhaps because the Ice Climbers could only imagine what kinds of horrible experiments Reeka conducted in these confined spaces. But at length, they found the last chamber empty, almost having come around in a loop back to the main room; their full sweep from two years ago had been thorough, and nothing appeared to have changed since.

A crashing noise echoed from the direction of the base's entrance, followed by a bloodcurdling roar.

Nana put a finger on her mouth and crept slowly toward the open doorway, which completed the cycle into the first, larger room. Just around the corner was the vault door—and whatever had made the noise. Popo caught up to his sister, and together, they peeked slowly around the edge of the doorway.

It was a huge creature at least the size of Donkey Kong—perhaps bigger. It was covered in thick gray tufts of hair, with clawed hands and feet, small piggy eyes, and a queer beak-like mouth.

 _The Topi Bear._

The last of Reeka's hybrid monsters—a combination of a Polar Bear and a Topi—which had become known as the Abominable Snowman to the few travelers unfortunate enough to spot it. It had followed the Ice Climbers right into their underground sanctuary, thanks to the door they had left wide open for it. And now, it was between them and their way out.

And then it saw them.

The beast lumbered toward them so quickly that Popo and Nana didn't even have time to cry out; all they could do was separate, diving to either side just in time for their attacker to lunge straight into the metal wall with another crash.

They began lobbing Freezies across the smooth floor, the icicles sliding into the Topi Bear with jagged expressions. But the monster didn't seem affected by ice; it was, after all, a blend of two of the most cold-acclimated creatures in the Nintendo World.

In response, it generated a Freezy of its own—a Freezy the size of an adolescent elephant. It kicked the giant piece of ice toward Popo, who definitely wouldn't be fast enough to dodge it this time.

Nana chucked her hammer, hitting Popo hard—but hard enough to knock him out of the way of the deadly Freezy. Then she ran straight at the beast, hoping her twin would recover quickly from her warranted but still painful intervention. She took advantage of its brief lack of focus and bounced nine feet up onto its head.

Popo quickly shook off the ache of Nana's hammer, grabbed it along with his own, and tossed his belay line in a perfect trajectory toward Nana's outstretched hand. She pulled the rope taut as he backed up to the wall, then kicked off of it, Nana's constant tension giving him increased momentum. He sped straight into the Topi Bear's face, smashing it from both sides between the two hammers.

It fell forward like a dense log, its belly causing heavy vibrations through the entire base. As Nana stood atop its back, she was worried that either it would lash out again, or its fall would cause the base to cave in. But fortunately, neither of her worries came to pass; their coordinated attack had rendered it unconscious, and for all his faults, Reeka had at least architected the place with tremendous structural integrity.

She hopped off and took Popo's hand, pulling him off the ground where he lay in a daze. She smiled. "That was pretty good, wasn't it?"

He smiled back. "There haven't been any Smash Tournaments for a while now; and we're probably part of the reason. I guess our teamwork is just too much for everyone else to handle."

"What's that?"

Nana walked over to inspect a strange metal circlet around one of the Topi Bear's ankles. She tentatively reached out and touched it—at which point it did something unexpected: It detached itself from the arctic creature and projected a blue holographic screen, displaying a menu with all sorts of research topics, ranging from "Biosynthetics" to "Geological Displacement" to "Arcane Astrophysics."

"Bio…syn…the…" Popo tried to read.

"I think," Nana said, picking up the anklet, "this is all of Reeka's research! You remember how we were never able to find any information even after turning this place upside down? He probably put it all into that circlet because he knew the Topi Bear would protect it."

Popo gave up trying to read big science words and nodded. "Let's take this to the Professor. If anyone can make something out of this stuff, it'll be him."

"What about that?" Nana inclined her head toward the fallen monster.

Popo shrugged. "It was just being territorial. Maybe we should let it be."

Nana laughed. "I'm sure it would agree to let _us_ be, too. Actually, I have a better idea…"

* * *

As Popo and Nana descended the mountain together, they left behind a new ice formation at the mountain's peak: a giant translucent block, at the center of which the Topi Bear looked as if it were enjoying a peaceful hibernation. A hibernation that would go on indefinitely unless someone was ever stupid enough to break it out.

Luckily, no one that dumb would ever be smart enough to reach the top of Mountain #32 anyways.

* * *

 **Professor E. Gadd's Laboratory**

 **Fourside City**

* * *

"Intriguing," Gadd said as he scrolled through the anklet's contents, his eyes flicking back and forth rapidly, absorbing the information with an intense intellectual hunger. "This explains a lot. You two have come across quite the find."

The only other visitor besides the Ice Climbers was Meta Knight, who came around every so often to consult with or check up on the declining scientist.

"Anything worth the Smash Brothers' attention?" Meta Knight asked.

"Well…for starters, my cousin's so-called 'biosynthetics' details exactly how he went about creating his perverse hybrids, like the Topi Bear and Piranha Gohma."

Both Ice Climbers winced. They didn't have pleasant memories of either creature.

"Fortunately, from these records, it looks like the Topi Bear was the last of 'em. So no more worrying about dangerous Reeka mutants running amuck.

"The 'geological displacement' program is almost certainly his scientific codename for the Deconstructor machine; here are the geological charts of the Nintendonian continent; chemical breakdowns of Rocketman's astrofuel; mechanical diagrams of the Metal Gears…he must have been able to access, alter, and store information on this anklet remotely, even while he was on Atari or Microsoft. Ingenious."

"Yes. And we are well rid of him," Meta Knight said.

"Indeed," Gadd said, chuckling. "As for these 'arcane astrophysics,' it looks like his work was incomplete, and I'm afraid even I have a hard time deciphering this data. There seems to be stuff ranging from the Seven Star Spirits to black holes and dimensional travel…and even some bits about hypothesized beginnings and endings of the universe. I'll continue to look over this little treasure trove, Meta Knight, and'll be sure to let you know if I find anything of significance."

"Very well," Meta Knight said. He turned to the Ice Climbers. "Thank you for your excellent work; it seems the Hand of Fate always has a way of bringing us back to our unsolved mysteries sooner or later. Even the smallest discovery could help us prepare for Sora's archenemy."

"Yeah!" they said simultaneously, then paused, unsure what else to say. Popo turned to his sister.

"Ice cream?"

* * *

 **Princess Peach's Castle**

 **Mushroom Kingdom**

* * *

"And here are the castle a-gardens," Mario said, continuing his tour of Peach's castle grounds for Sora. Around the great white blocks and brick-red rooftops of the castle, there was a winding path that led through a splendiferous garden of apple orchards (mostly for Yoshis), dancing Fire and Ice Flowers, rosebushes, sunflowers, ivy-covered picket fences, hedges sculpted into familiar Mushroom Kingdom shapes, colorful spinning daisies, and even the occasional Pokey—a tall yellow cactus-like creature with a flower-topped head—fresh from the Dry Dry Desert.

"Wow," Sora said as he tried to take it all in. "Reminds me of Disney Castle…" No matter how hard he tried, he seemed unable to get his mind off the world he'd left behind. _But this is your world now,_ he reminded himself. _You've got to learn to love these lands and people as you did Disney—and to protect them even better._

Mario talked about some of the memories he had of this part of the castle, not the least of which included Peach's magical restoration in front of her stained-glass likeness above the front doors; the shenanigans he'd had with Luigi and Toadsworth as a baby; and some bittersweet recollections of kart races which wound through these verdant paths.

They came to a stop at one of the benches situated near a fountain of clear water that sparkled in the sun. The water spouted from the marble mouth of a Big Cheep Cheep statue.

"So," Sora said, "you care about This World an awful lot, don't ya?"

Mario nodded. "It's everything to a-me. And I'd do anything to protect it."

"Being the hero isn't always so great, though." Sora stared through the whispering leaves of a tree. "When you save the day, it's awesome; but if you lose…" He trailed off, then shook his head. "Sorry; I haven't always been such a downer. I just wish you could've seen how…magical…the Disney Universe was. And I wish I could tell you exactly how to save This World from the same fate."

The corner of Mario's mustache lifted in a smile. "Be careful what you a-wish for, Sora; in our a-world, wishes can really come true."

"What's that?"

Sora shielded his eyes, pointing at a bright speck in the sky which was falling toward them. Mario had no answer, however; they both tensed for a possible fight as it crashed into the ground like a tiny meteor, sending huge chunks of dirt and grass in every direction. Then, a rather unique figure rose from the crater.

It was a puppet—a wooden puppet with a blue cap and an odd orange ribbon that curled down the hat between his glass eyes. But both Sora and Mario were so used to encountering strange beings by this point that neither of them felt fear or shock—just curiosity. In fact, in Mario's case, he experienced joyful recognition.

"Geno, you're a-here!" Before the days when Bowser controlled the Star Rod, an evil blacksmith named Smithy had taken over the Mushroom Kingdom and shattered the Star Road that made possible the granting of wishes from Star Haven. Geno was not one of _the_ Seven Star Spirits, but he was the spirit of a prominent star which had inhabited this puppet in order to help Mario gather the lost Star Road pieces and stop Smithy. Apparently the celestial emissary had taken a liking to this particular physical form.

"Hello, Mario. It's been quite some time." Geno's voice was childlike, and yet there was a maturity to it, an "otherness," that eluded description. He pivoted his head to face Sora.

"Who are you, friend?"

"Sora." They shook hands. Woodenly, of course. Sora briefly explained where he came from and how he'd ended up here.

"Interesting." Geno turned to Mario. "I am here because it is written in the stars that you and Princess Toadstool are to be wed within the week, yes?"

"Mm-hmm!"

Geno flexed his wooden hinges experimentally. "Good; then I am to inform you that your union shall have a heavenly audience. The other Star Spirits and I can think of no possible event so star-crossed, so purely effulgent in the ofttimes nebulous realms of our universe." He addressed Sora again. "And you, Sora. You should know what a tremendous privilege it is to associate with the great Mario. Whatever grim destiny your past home may have had, I am sure you will find Nintendo is a world unlike any other—a world where everyone deep inside has got a dream; where a dream is a wish your heart makes; where when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true."

"Yeah…" Images of Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Jiminy Cricket flashed through Sora's mind. "It's really something special."

* * *

 **Synobazz**

 **F-Zero Sector**

* * *

Though a few portals connected such locations as Corneria City and Onett to the Nintendo World, for the most part travel to and from Smash Planet still relied on good old-fashioned space technology. Thus it was that Samus's gunship whizzed through empty space, its occupants consisting of the pilot, Jody Summer, and Solid Snake.

Samus almost felt like humming a Chozo lullaby as she sat at the front of the ship, which was large enough to carry perhaps 10 people comfortably. Her two passengers sat in sturdy carbon fiber seats to either side of her. Jody was wearing Captain Falcon's helmet, the white slits of her eyes behind the visor reminding the bounty hunter of her old friend in almost every way, except her chin was distinctly feminine and her brown hair trailed down from the back. Oddly enough, though, it didn't bother Samus.

"The helmet suits you," Samus said from within her own.

Jody smiled. "Thanks."

Jody Summer enjoyed the astral view as much as Samus—the vast network of glittering specks: bright or faint; white or red or blue; the peaceful solitude of being far away from typical worldly distractions. Snake, on the other hand—who had never traveled through space—had a bit of a harder time appreciating what was beyond the window while his body struggled just to accept the distorted gravity of extraterrestrial existence. He was too much of a "man" to allow himself to look sick, of course, but his internal malady still limited his aesthetic commentary significantly.

"According to your coordinates," Samus told Jody, her hands still on the controls, "we should reach Synobazz in just twenty minutes. Then we can track down our killer and take him in for a pretty penny."

"Good." Jody noticed Snake's repressed expression. "You all right there, hot stuff?"

Snake grimaced with a hand on his stomach. "Perfect. My earthling body's just a little queasy; first time in the Great Beyond, and all."

The rest of the journey went smoothly. They came up on the small, dull green planet known within the F-Zero Sector as Synobazz. On second glance, however, the apparent dullness was layered with a faint _glowing._

With only a thin atmosphere to penetrate, they descended through it without any complications and found themselves hovering over an endless marshy landscape.

"Find the track," Jody urged.

Samus complied, steering her gunship across the dismal environment—which in addition to its soggy greenery, also occasionally included what appeared to be corroded metal structures, strangled by vines and overgrown with algae.

"What happened here?" Snake asked, finally starting to feel better now that there was at least some kind of reliable gravity for his body to obey.

"No one knows," Jody said. "Rumor has it that Synobazz was once home to a thriving aristocratic civilization, boasting a great treasure hidden beneath the surface. But that was centuries ago; first I'd heard of it, we were using it as one of the more unpredictable F-Zero racetracks. And, most recently, this is where the Federation cornered Samurai Goroh and his bandits and put an end to this front of the Space Pirate War. Too bad I was all embroiled with your Smash Brothers…" She smiled faintly. "Would've really liked to see Goroh taken down myself. Such a brute. But still not as vicious as Black Shadow."

"Found it." Samus drew even closer to the surface and began to follow a solid grayish-green path which wound its way through the interminable marshlands.

"Good. Now keep an eye out for anything fishy."

"There," Snake said suddenly and unexpectedly. The two women looked with surprise in the direction the FOXHOUND soldier was pointing; there seemed to be nothing out of place there except for a very slight dip in the grass, which was filled with boggy brown water and only stood out if you ignored the billions of other such depressions just like it.

"What is it, Snake?" Samus asked, straining her eyes.

"Just land," he said.

Samus shrugged and brought her ship down right on top of the racetrack so as to minimize the amount of mud and damp greenery that might cling to the bottom.

As the door slid open, Snake was instantly assaulted by the thickest, most putrid air he'd ever had the misfortune of breathing. He swallowed his nausea and stepped out onto the packed mud and grass of the track, the high humidity and thin, muggy mist making him feel about as at home as a Mobian hedgehog on the bottom of the ocean.

"Well?" Samus and Jody turned to their tracker.

Snake pulled out the purple bull-themed gun again, as well as the plastic bag containing the documented prints. He carefully inspected the pistol's handle.

"Obviously we're not gonna find your man with these prints," Snake said, moving into a professional gunman's position and aiming it experimentally at a random part of the marsh. "But judging from the weight and feel of this weapon, he must be very strong and well balanced to handle such a dense gun. Probably tall, too, with a steady grip and a sharp eye; these serrated sights could point you to a dime 500 feet away if you used it right. So we're looking for a pretty well-built man."

"So it's Black Shadow," Samus said. "No offense, Sherlock, but I think we figured that one out already."

Snake then brought the gun close to his face and sniffed. "Right. But what's really gonna help us is that foul scent the hands left behind on the weapon. My unit was called FOXHOUND for many reasons, ladies, and being able to sniff a rabbit passing gas from the other side of a canyon was one of them."

"Okay." Jody and Samus were still aimless. Even technology couldn't get the kind of precision Snake's instincts were trained to achieve. "Lead the way then, Boy Scout."

"Sh." Snake stood motionless, this time listening for even the slightest disturbance of sound. Neither of his companions heard anything (the planet was devoid of animal life), but then after a moment, he was already on the move, following some kind of invisible trace down the track.

They went on a short distance along the flattened path, and then Snake veered off abruptly into the sticky swampland, his boots sinking several inches into the mud with each step. He came to the slight, water-filled depression, inspected its murky surface for a moment, and then plunged his arm into the thick puddle. Samus and Jody watched as his expression went from one of concentration to one of smug satisfaction.

"Found something." He tugged, but made no headway. "It's really heavy, though."

Jody put her arms around Snake's torso and began pulling with him. They heaved and groaned, but the suction force was too strong. Samus, on the other hand, just stood there, watching them.

"We…could use…a hand…Aran," Snake panted.

But instead, Samus leaned over the puddle, activated her zigzagging electric blue Grappler Beam, and flung the entire object out of the depression with one Power Suit-assisted motion. The rough outline of a body, dripping with mud, lay on the ground beside them.

Snake and Jody stared at the indistinguishable figure, then at Samus.

"That works," Snake said.

Jody leaned down to inspect the body, wiping some of the mud away from the face to reveal the decaying flesh of a man with a square jaw—and a mask with what looked like a set of demonic bull horns, although one of them had been snapped off, the other twisted and bent. Snake wiped mud off the rest of the body, revealing a muscular torso clad in a deep purple racing suit—shredded and soaked with blood.

"It's him."

Jody Summer stared at the corpse of Black Shadow in disbelief.

Snake sniffed the body, further observing the body's status. "When exactly was the last of your F-Zero murders, Ms. Summer?"

"Three days ago," she said. "Michael Chain was found dead in his gang's backstreet HQ in Port Town."

A strange look came across Snake's face.

"What is it, Snake?" Samus asked.

"This body," he said, "has been dead for at least two weeks."

There was a stunned silence. How could this be? The racer victims had clearly been shot by Black Shadow's gun.

They had little time to ponder, for it was then that a short yellow lightning bolt came from the sky and struck the supervillain's body, causing it to dissolve and melt into the murky ground. Gone.

They looked up in the direction of the attack, but there was nothing there. Then they looked back down to behold a queer figure standing in their midst: a chrome humanoid with a "glass-blown" body and pointed arms and a single black rectangle for a face.

"Unauthorized guests to note," the Starman buzzed in a robotic monotone, "that their disposal is now requisite. Do not attempt to escape."

Samus fired a missile from her arm cannon, but the alien aggressor teleported with a twinkle long before it could be hit. Then, the Starman was joined by a small fleet of UFOs that descended from the clouds, and Starmen of gold and brass and chrome, some with spiked shoulders to indicate rank, flickered into view all around them.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Snake said, standing up from his crouched position.

"Yeah," Samus said. "Let's attempt to escape."

A volley of bolt-shaped PK Beams shot from the host of Starmen toward their targets. Snake shoved the three of them forward into the mud, the energy segments sizzling into the ground where they had just been.

They each made use of their own method of survival. Samus curled into her Morph Ball form, rolling through the swamp, bouncing every now and then when a crossfire of PK Beams would have stricken her otherwise. Snake crawled through the mud on his stomach in true guerilla fashion, his camo suit coming in handy for once as the Starmen had great difficulty trying to find him.

Jody, on the other hand, was faced with a perilous do-or-die moment. She narrowed her eyes behind Falcon's helmet, clenching her fists.

"It's time," she whispered to herself.

 _"Falcon Kick!"_

She slid across the ground with the fiery speed of her predecessor, leaving a trail of flames in her wake, her feet glowing with the red-hot energy that had apparently been accessible through Captain Falcon's helmet. _Or,_ Jody thought as she transitioned from the kick into a rapid sprint, _was my brother's power inherent in me all along?_

Either way, she and her two companions made their way toward Samus's gunship, and Samus and Jody quickly reached it. Snake, on the other hand, was having a rather more difficult time inching his way forward with any semblance of safety.

Jody, with an instinct that she didn't know she had, leapt onto the roof of the spacecraft and turned to Samus. "Start the ship and head over to Snake."

Samus looked surprised. "But what about—"

A PK Beam streaked past her from behind, narrowly missing her head, but striking her precious vessel and leaving a scorch mark. There was no time for questions. She climbed into the front and closed the hatch, lifting off a few seconds later as it was now being peppered liberally by the Starmen, which made its takeoff rather rough—especially with Jody balanced precariously on top.

As it began powering forward, however, one of the spinning platter-shaped UFOs lowered itself to cut them off, both from escaping and from rescuing Snake in his sticky predicament. Samus was about to turn around, for if she used the gunship's lasers, she would almost certainly harm Snake as well. But then she realized what her friend was up to, and she grinned and maintained her forward course.

"Come on…" Jody didn't know whether she was adept or worthy enough to perform the act she hoped to do next, but there was no room for doubt; it _had_ to work. She had her brother's mantle upon her. She drew back her fist as the UFO remained stationary, as if it were amused that Samus's gunship was trying to get past it.

"Falcon…PUNCH!"

The UFO turned over itself several times as the force of Jody's attack knocked it away, and before its Starman occupants could right it, it crashed into the swamp and exploded.

Samus, meanwhile, opened the hatch just low enough for Snake to crawl inside. Jody slid down the side of the ship and used the lip of its underside to swing herself through the opening as well, and then it closed, and they were off.

The Starmen pursued them for a short time, but Samus's gunship maneuvered unpredictably through the atmosphere, avoiding almost all the UFO lasers and PK Beams sent after it. The ship's shield absorbed whatever damage might have been caused by the few that hit their target.

Finally, the Starmen broke away and returned to Synobazz's lower atmosphere, apparently not invested or motivated enough to chase them further.

The three heroes sat, breathing heavily, dripping mud.

"That was close," Snake said, turning to Jody. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

But Samus turned her head and looked at her with a more-than-appreciative expression.

"You didn't just get us out of there," she said with a smile. "You did the Captain proud: You showed them your moves."

* * *

 **Planet Bomber**

 **Northeast Sector**

* * *

Bomberman's ship was a white rocket with red fins, which folded out to become a jet when it drew close to any given planet's surface. For now, however, its single flaring exhaust port propelled the rocket ship casually toward Bomberman's home world: a planet almost laughably similar to Bomberman's head, except the outline of his face and his eyes were green land masses, and the rest of the surface was ocean. The small pink ball that sat on his head was represented by a pink moon just now making its way behind the planet.

"Cool," Pacman said from within the ship, his yellow face pressed against the glass, his long rubbery nose bent upward. "You weren't kidding when you said your planet had familiar faces. Literally."

Bomberman nodded and gestured with one of his ball-stubbed hands, his noodly arm conveying the message that "I haven't been back since I crash-landed during Master Hand's era. Impa and Meta Knight introduced me to the Smash Brothers, but no one was able to help repair my ship until after Tabuu, and even then, there was no way for me to find my way back here until Professor Gadd made this nifty space navigator for me."

He was referring to a gamepad-like device installed into his ship's dashboard, which contained a full set of star charts from Gadd's astronomical studies combined with bits of information the professor had gleaned from Reeka's data and _The Foreseen and Unforeseen History of the Near and Distant Past as well as the Near and Distant Future, As Glimpsed from the Present Past, Presently_. Bomberman had been quite elated when the professor had given him the news, and as soon as the Grand Prix was over, he'd resolved to make the long-awaited trip home—and to bring a friend.

"So." Pacman's eyes swept over the approaching planet. "I hope Planet Bomber is all you say it's cracked up to be; and it'd better have round food and fruit. And blue ghosts. That's all I eat."

Pacman was not to be disappointed. During their vacation on Planet Bomber, Bomberman introduced him to dozens of other "familiar faces"—other Bombermen who literally looked exactly like him, except some were red, or blue, or black, or other colors instead of white.

They toured Planet Bomber's largest habitation, the sophisticated Bomber Base. They explored the Dark Wood and the Peace Mountains and the Slammin' Sea and the Thrashin' Tundra. In short, they made the most of a rare time of world peace, for when that peace was broken—which it inevitably would be, if past patterns were any indicator—the two heroes knew they would be needed again. Little did they know that they, and many others, were being watched by unseen forces—and that their peace would not be interrupted by another war, but by something much, much worse.

* * *

 **Indigo Plateau**

 **Kanto Region**

* * *

The Elite Four would be the first to go.

Quentin strode calmly out of the cavernous mountain which filtered out all the weaker Pokémon Trainers who were unprepared to face the five strongest Trainers in the land—the defenders of the world as they knew it.

A world that was about to end.

Not a single Wild Pokémon had challenged him as they sensed his presence, sensed his Spirit Bond, his oneness with the will of the Pokémon, his determination to break down barriers that should never have been built. He didn't have to use the Omni Ball once, ignoring any of the children foolish enough to challenge him. He had no time for lesser things.

The Pokémon League tower was preceded by two elegant stone arches and a well-maintained courtyard, the building itself rising up several floors with Japanese-style roofing. The last time Quentin had been here, it had been as Pokémon League Champion. Many memories flowed through his mind as he pushed through the engraved cherrywood doors and went up to the attendant, who stared at him with mouth agape.

"You're…" he stuttered. "You're…Q-Quentin, the Pokémon Master and former Champion!"

Quentin smiled. "I am here to see the Four," he said.

"Uh…yeah, of course. Right this way!" The attendant pushed a button which opened an elevator that led not into the first of the battle rooms, but up and around all of them, until it reached the very top of the tower where the Elite Four dwelled, waiting for challengers or for matters throughout Kanto that needed their expert attention.

Quentin boarded the elevator and waited until it reached the top, then entered a red-carpeted parlor with velvet couches and a grated fireplace on one side, and a more business-oriented set of tables and chairs and computers and wall-mounted televisions on the other, with a small kitchen in the back corner. Statues of Legendary Pokémon decorated the corners, and a comprehensive map of Kanto hung on the wall beside one of the mounted screens.

Around one of the tables sat the Elite Four—Lorelei with her red horn-rimmed glasses and violet hair; Bruno, a shirtless, tanned man with a WWE wrestler's build; Agatha, an old, hunched woman with ghostly lavender hair; and Lance the Dragon Master, with his sleek blue cape, sharp gray eyes, and spiky red locks.

"…and then, once we've made contact with the Orre Region again, we can figure out whether their Champion, Wes, will come over for the exhibition and…" Lance's voice trailed off as Quentin stepped into the room. His stare influenced the other three around the table to turn and face the newcomer.

"Quentin?" Lance stood up. "Is it really you?"

Quentin said nothing, his cold expression making them uncomfortable.

"My friend." Lance began to make his way around the table toward the onetime Champion. "After all these years, you have no idea how glad I am to—"

His voice cut off again at the sight of the Omni Ball, which Quentin had pulled from his belt. Finally, the Pokémon Ascetic spoke.

"I have been charged to usher in Kanto's rebirth," he said grimly, "beginning with at top. We all believed we were making our world safe from its oppressors. But the truth is, Dragon Master… _we_ were the oppressors. The League…the Gyms…the Contests…the breeding houses…the Safari Zone…all of it is a thinly concealed form of slavery, one the Pokémon world will tolerate no longer. It's time, my friends, to accept the consequences of your corruption."

He closed his eyes in concentration, then tossed the Omni Ball. From within it shot an electric white light which solidified to form a large orange tortoise with a black shell, volcanic steam billowing from its nostrils with each breath. Torkoal.

Instinctively, the Four all sprang to their feet and tossed Pokéballs of their own, calling forth Cloyster, Machamp, Haunter, and Dragonite. Lance was shocked, but resolute.

"Our world isn't a perfect one, Quentin; we all know that. I don't know what you went through during those ten years before you rejoined us during the Second Copyright Wars, but this isn't the way to create change. You speak of the 'will of the Pokémon,' and yet here our friends stand, opposing you. The relationship between man and Pokémon can be good; your son is living proof of that."

"Change!" Quentin laughed bitterly. "There is no change without sacrifice, without pain. Some Pokémon do appear to be loyal to humans, but only because they have been brainwashed—because the only way for them to cope with their captivity is to imagine themselves as friends to their captors rather than slaves. And as for Red, he will be there to help me reform the new Kanto once it is purged of its human abusers." His eyes twinkled darkly. "But you won't."

He nodded to Torkoal, and it pounded its front feet on the floor, executing a mighty Fissure attack.

It shook the building all the way to its foundation, splitting the entire edifice down the middle. Both sides became extremely unstable as they began to wobble.

Then the Torkoal turned to the Elite Four and Erupted, spewing a series of molten rocks from its shell which went in several directions and set the room aflame. Several lava chunks flew straight over the Pokémon and struck Bruno and Lorelei, knocking them to the ground in burning agony. Machamp and Cloyster made to go to their Trainers' aid, but they were suddenly absorbed by the Omni Ball, which took them somewhere safe—somewhere where they couldn't protect humans.

"NO! Dragonite, Ice Beam!"

But before the creature could extinguish the flames killing two of the Four, the Omni Ball sucked it up as well, followed soon after by Agatha's Haunter. And by now, the two halves of the Pokémon League were beginning to topple. No one would survive that fall—especially without Pokémon to aid them.

"You're insane!" Lance yelled as Torkoal Returned to the Omni Ball, to be replaced by Gardevoir. There was nothing either he or Agatha could do now. It was over.

The Psychic Pokémon created a translucent magenta sphere around herself and Quentin, thus protecting them from the consequences of the falling building. But as Lance and Agatha braced for the deadly fall, and as the ground beneath their feet collapsed, an identical protective sphere appeared around the two of them.

"What is this?" Quentin raised an eyebrow, but he had only to utter the words for the perpetrator to Teleport into view.

Mewtwo.

The Psychic Cat's eyes were a raging amethyst, his paws curled, his anger evident even in the way he hovered, like the throbbing heart of a heaving monster.

 _"Quentin."_

"Mewtwo." The man was slightly taken aback by this surprise appearance, but not afraid.

 _"This must stop. The will of the Pokémon cannot be what you say it is. Pokémon are gentle creatures—peaceful until provoked. Do not sacrifice your humanity to cater to an imaginary mandate."_

Quentin laughed softly. "I suppose it makes sense that you would not understand the will of the Pokémon. After all, you are not _all_ Pokémon—are you? The human side of your consciousness cries out for self-preservation at the expense of everything and everyone else. You are Psychic, and yet you cannot see what the future of Kanto must be."

Mewtwo paused. Despite himself, Quentin's words stung him to the core. The man had once been a wise friend, one who truly understood and respected the Pokémon and their value. But he had taken things too far.

 _"I will not let you kill any more innocent people,"_ he said telepathically. _"And neither will Red."_

Now it was Quentin's turn to be angry. "My son was unprepared to receive the truth…but he will come around in time. And if you stand in my way, I will do whatever is necessary to achieve what's best for all Pokémon…even if a few Pokémon must become casualties in the process."

At that, Mewtwo lost his cool. He performed a powerful Psychic attack, aiming at the dangerous rogue floating before him even as the Pokémon League continued to cave in on itself, shattered walls and windows and dust flying through the air below, flames billowing at the top like some kind of demonic crown.

But he was counteracted—matched, even—by the Psychic attack of Gardevoir. Somehow, Quentin's mastery of the Omni Ball made her much stronger than a normally trained Pokémon, even to the point of matching the mighty Mewtwo. Her eyes shone a brilliant galactic magenta.

Mewtwo groaned with pain as his opponent's Psychic began to overpower his own. If he kept this up, he would not only succumb to the pain of Gardevoir's attack, but he would lose hold of the barrier around Lance and Agatha, and they would plunge to their deaths. There was only one option.

He quickly ceased his Psychic attack, and then immediately refocused his energy to Teleport himself and the two humans out of danger, leaving Quentin to watch the demise of Kanto's highest order, its strongest line of defense.

* * *

 **Venom**

 **Lylat System**

* * *

Dash didn't know whether the wetness on his face was due to tears of anger or sorrow. All he knew was that he wanted to get as far away from Smash Planet, from Corneria, from Star Fox, as possible. He hadn't actually intended to end up near the sickly yellow-green planet of Venom; it had just sort of happened.

 _He didn't reject you because you weren't good enough_ , he tried to remind himself. _In fact, he said when the time is right, you'll have a place on the team._

But why was he the one who didn't belong when there was that cocky falcon…that inept amphibian…that senile rabbit…and that sentimental female vixen all ahead of him? Surely he was twice the pilot as Slippy, or Krystal, or even Peppy with his advanced age. No, there had to be another reason. And then a truly dark thought occurred to him.

 _Does he know?_

 _Does he know I'm the grandson of Andross? Did he shun me because he despises anything that reminds him of his father's death? Or maybe…does he blame_ me _for it?_

The indignance roiled in his heart together with lingering resentment, which festered and afflicted his mind, his heart, his soul. Was he to be denied success and acceptance on account of an orphaned fox's prejudiced grudge? On account of Dash's identity, which he couldn't control?

Which he couldn't control.

He dipped the Monkey Arrow beneath Venom's toxic atmosphere, revealing the desolate wastelands that had once been Andross's mightiest base. Cracked, vomit-colored boulders and arches; the poisonous gas clouds which from a distance created an eerie haze around the planet, like an ailing sun's solar flares; the steaming depths of the acidic Venom seas. It was ugly. But it was also truth: It was how he felt inside.

He landed on a mesa and stepped out, smelling the sour air and letting lonely gusts blow through his fur. Bolts of lightning flashed across the sky. He stared out at the place where a great scientist had been twisted until he'd become a genocidal maniac.

But was it really Andross's fault?

After all, General Pepper had been the one who'd exiled him without even considering the potential good Andross's experiments might have done for Lylat. The Cornerians were close-minded; arrogant; short-sighted; incapable of accepting viewpoints other than their own; unable to perceive a great vision that might require some sacrifice along the way. In some ways…in many ways…Andross was a victim of Cornerian pride. Was it any wonder he'd had to resort to extreme measures to survive and to continue his work?

But what was that work?

 _You were destined for something more…_

 _You deserved to come with me and be a part of the grand vision I had for Lylat…_

In an almost dream-like state, he wandered back to his Arwing and climbed into the cockpit. But he did not start it up. Instead, he switched on his speakers and the recording that had saved itself into his ship. Andross's hologram appeared in front of him; he spoke the same words he'd said before, and yet Dash felt as if there was some sort of hidden satisfaction concealed behind the old primate's face that hadn't been there before.

"The following recordings will instruct you on the secrets I have discovered through my research, which I now entrust to you. To you, Dash Bowman, I leave my legacy. I can only hope that you will honor it."

"Tell me, Grandfather," he murmured. "What was I meant to become?"

* * *

 **Angel Island**

 **Mobius**

* * *

"Curse you, Sonic!"

Dr. Ivo Robotnik—known colloquially as Dr. Eggman—was about to lift off from the waterfall of the floating Angel Island, with several of those pesky Mobians hot on his tail. If he didn't get out of here soon, he'd be done for. His pudgy red figure was sweating within his small enclosed hovercraft, his bald head glistening, his blue pupilless eyes blinking frantically, his splayed bowtie-shaped mustache twitching anxiously. From up here, he could see four furry figures rolling and hopping up the rocks toward his position.

"Come on, guys! Let's teach Eggy a lesson he'll never forget!" Sonic the Hedgehog led his friends Knuckles, Amy, and Shadow up the side of the cliff. There was a certain thrill of chasing Dr. Eggman that never got old; he would almost be disappointed if they stopped him for good.

Finally, the ignition of Eggman's one-man ship produced the desired effect, and it lifted off, rumbling like a lawnmower (Eggman hadn't gotten around to updating the model quite yet). Just as he flew off the edge of the waterfall, Sonic sprung after him, grabbing onto the wing.

"Get off, you rat!" Eggman cried. He did a barrel roll, managing to dislodge the hedgehog, who fell into the pool not far below. The other three stopped at the waterfall's edge.

"Guess it's up to Tails now," Knuckles said.

Just when Eggman thought he was home free, he heard a popping noise from his right and felt his tiny ship shake like a maraca. He yelled and swerved to the left, then upward, discovering his latest attacker out of the corner of his eye.

It was Tails, piloting his beloved red biplane, _Tornado._ Its pellet bullets were firing continually as he made to cut off Eggman's escape.

"Where d'you think _you're_ goin', Baldy?" he said with a laugh. "I didn't say you could leave yet. Let's have some fun first!"

"Grrr…" Eggman was fed up with the Mobians' persistence. The two ships drew nearer and were about to intersect, but at the last second, Eggman banked sharply to the right, flying through the _Tornado_ 's smoky trail rather than falling victim to its close-range weapons (who knew what kinds of accessories Tails had added to it this time).

He activated the pod's boosters, rocketing into the atmosphere, leaving Tails and the rest of Mobius far behind on Smash Planet.

Once he'd successfully left the atmosphere, his shoulders slumped and he relaxed, letting out several deep breaths. All this just because he'd been caught by one of those infernal Chao creatures at the last moment while he was trying to steal the Chaos Emeralds again. He narrowed his eyes and gripped the steering mechanism tightly. One day…one day he would manage to take them—and keep them this time.

He flew into what seemed to be empty space. But in reality, he thought smugly, it was the spot where his latest superweapon was hidden: the Death Egg Mach III! This one featured a Cloaking Device which he'd managed to plunder from the aftermath of the Second Copyright Wars while no one was looking. Thus, there was no way Sonic and his fellow pests could possibly find Eggman's base and prevent the destruction of their beloved animal paradise.

But that hadn't stopped Dr. Eggman from seizing opportunities for greater power when they were presented to him. No; as he landed in the Death Egg's docking bay and went up the elevator to his most secret private quarters (he was the only living thing on this base, but that was beside the point), he couldn't resist skipping with glee at the thought of his recently acquired ally. He was confident the man would prove a valuable sponsor, especially with all of the "world peace" and "Smash Brothers" and "All-Stars" nonsense going around.

He entered a dark room with a single large screen covering the opposite wall. As the elevator doors closed behind him, he checked his watch, twiddled his thumbs for a couple minutes, then sent out the communication beacon for his scheduled appointment. He pulled at his collar nervously; in spite of how much this guy promised to help him, he couldn't help feeling intimidated by the mysterious man's presence.

Finally, the screen turned on, giving an enlarged view of Xehanort's head and shoulders. The man's fiery orange eyes had calmed to a cool flicker. The corner of his mouth was lifted in a slight smirk, as if he were withholding the punchline of a gut-busting joke.

"Master Xehanort," Eggman said, still somewhat out of breath. "You honor me with your presence."

"What news have you?"

"All is well, my liege." Eggman bowed. He wasn't overly fond of addressing anyone as his superior, but he also had a strong instinct not to question his inferior position at this point in time.

"And the Maverick and the dragon…they are prepared to receive me as well?"

"Of course."

"Good. Then we have nothing else to discuss."

Before Eggman could verify that he was really going to be given complete sovereign power over Mobius as Xehanort had promised, the transmission ended.

He shrugged and returned to the elevator, craving something fruity and smothered in chocolate. Xehanort certainly wasn't the type of fellow he'd invite on a weekend fishing trip, but Eggman supposed none of that would matter once he had everything he'd ever wanted—and more.

* * *

 **Among the Clouds**

 **Skyworld**

* * *

The clouds made such a comfortable bed, and even as the midmorning sun shone through his nebulous surroundings, Pit had only to roll onto his other side and drift back to sleep.

 _"Pit…"_

He shielded his eyes and muffled his ears with a wing. Sometimes those morning birds could be unbelievably, intolerably loud.

 _"Pit…look up."_

"Whosere?" He sat up and rubbed his eyes, envying the Dreamlandian Noddies which could literally sleep through anything. He blinked rapidly as he adjusted to the bright light, somewhat surprised that anyone had found him way up here. With Skyworld deserted, who else was there that could fly this high?

A hazy figure became more distinct as his head cleared up. A solitary man stood on the clouds nearby, his winged arms folded in front of him, his familiar beak and dark Rito skin and red mailbag slung over his shoulders almost causing Pit to lose balance on his cloud and drop over the edge.

"Quill?"

The Rito Postman nodded. The kinship which had developed between the two of them during their journey to Atari was evident in his friendly, mentoring demeanor. But he also looked solemn.

 _"It's good to see you, Pit."_

"But…you're dead. Aren't you?"

Quill closed his eyes and nodded.

"So you can't really be here, then, right? Is this a dream?"

 _"Dreams…visions…visitations…I'm afraid happenings in the Smash Universe are not as straightforward as they once were. But what's important is that I_ am _here; whether in your mind or in your conscious reality, I_ am _here."_

"Oh." Suddenly, Pit felt a horrible twang of guilt. "I-I'm so sorry, Quill…about what happened on Atari. I should've listened to you better. Maybe if we hadn't gone into Reeka's base, you wouldn'tve…wouldn'tve…"

 _"No. You were right to lead us into the heart of Reeka's plot; without that information early in the game, Nintendo might have sunk much deeper than a few feet. I do not blame you, Pit; on the contrary, I honor and respect you—for what you have done for Nintendo, and for Smash Planet."_

"Thanks." Pit wasn't sure what else to say. "I talked to Lady Palutena. She said—"

 _"Yes; I know. Being dead has its advantages. You may not have noticed until now, but the veil between the living and the dead is growing thin. You are not the first to be visited from beyond—nor will you be the last. These are signs that the Great Convergence has begun."_

"The Great Convergence…like what happened when the Links and Zeldas meshed with each other?"

 _"Another sign. But just the beginning. In any case, I have come to convey a message to you—concerning your role in the events which are to come. You have always had an especially strong connection with the gods, Pit, and that proved instrumental in L.O.G.'s final destruction. But you also know now that even their wisdom, even their powers are limited. And so, though you are not one of the Twelve, it will be your duty to help them seek out the items necessary to save This World. Otherwise, the Smash Universe will be lost to darkness, as was the Disney Universe before it."_

"The Twelve?" Pit scratched his head, admittedly still tired and desirous to return to his cloudy pillow. "What do you mean?"

But in response, Quill shot up from the ground and took to the skies. As his silhouette flew into the blindingly sunlit clouds beyond, his last words echoed back to Pit.

 _"Never lose faith, Pit—even when those who you put your faith in fail you."_

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** This will be the last chapter in which everything seems super fragmented and unrelated (though this was intentional and served its purpose). Look forward to more traditional single-perspective chapters from now on; it'll be different from the other _Trophies_ stories up to this point, but it is a necessary shift. ;)


	8. Chapter 6: 'Till Death Do You Part

" _Now, go; rejoice in your triumphs with your friends; you have all earned this time of happiness, and there will come a time when your memories together will prove valuable beyond all mortal measure."_

 _ **~Lady Palutena**_

* * *

Chapter 6: 'Till Death Do You Part

* * *

 **Castle Town**

 **Hyrule**

* * *

 ** _W_** eddings in Hyrule were always wonderful times of mingling and merrymaking. But this double marriage—between Link and Princess Zelda, and Mario and Princess Peach—there had never been anything like it.

They couldn't have asked for a brighter, sunnier day. It was as if the Hylian goddesses themselves were smiling upon them, bestowing a radiant warmth that converted into a radiant happiness upon all who were in attendance.

Hyrule Castle Town, which was already a happening place under normal circumstances, was decked out for the celebration of the century—and appropriately so. All the cobblestone streets that met in the town square were lined with decorations: ribbons and tinsel and banners draped along and across the rooftops; colorful flags bearing insignias of the various Hylian civilizations and of the Six Sages and of the races of the Mushroom Kingdom; confetti and bubbles splashing from open windows of medieval-style houses; lantern-bearing Poe ornaments and Power Star figurines; and an innumerable number of other festive embellishments.

Then, as soon as you neared the town square, the host of market stands and carnival booths and exhibition displays plunged the pleasant scene into celebratory chaos. Mako, an arrogant, ginger-haired Kokiri, manned a stall advertising Deku Nuts and Sticks and Leaves; fairies in bottles; and hand-carved ocarinas and flutes. A creepy old woman stood behind an enclosure of tall bubbling cauldrons, calling out to passersby to try her Blue Chu Jelly or one of her other homemade tonics. Mustached men both thick and thin supervised the handling and selling of their numerous trays of locally produced Hylian fruits, vegetables, breads, cheeses, and meats. Women draped in scarves tried to draw people in to inspect their fabrics: rugs; tunics; boots; and so forth. A plain-looking man stood behind an extraordinary stall full of weaponry: swords; shields; braces; chainmail; helmets; bows and arrows; bombs and Bombchus. The works.

Other venders had come from down south to sell their wares: Toads with various Shroom dishes and syrups; Yoshis with fresh fruit from the Super Happy Tree; Waffle Toads with various dessert-themed (and flavored) trinkets and novelties; Beanbeans with cornucopias of different beans, some for grinding and mixing into drinks, others for combat (Smoke Beans, Bomb Beans, Capture Beans, etc.), and others still for utility purposes (Tracker Beans, Air Freshener Beans…you get the idea). And then there was another stall, this one draped in black curtains behind black tables with a stocky, black-cloaked figure watching over the black chests on display. Point being, some sellers appeared much less suspicious than others. Yet all at this great event were enjoying great business.

But the main event was taking place in the town square itself. Other than the marketplace running around the perimeter, the scores of humans, Hylians, Kokiri, Gorons, Zoras, Gerudos, Toads, Beanbeans, Koopas, Goombas, and other relevant species in attendance had cleared the cobblestone space around the central fountain for the dance.

For the time being, the floor was just being warmed up by miscellaneous townsfolk and guests, Nintendonians twirling around each other to the music of a folk song—familiar to anyone who'd visited the Lost Woods—being played by a cluster of Kokiri on fiddles, pan flutes, tambourines, and Deku-shelled drums, and led by Saria with her lively ocarina lines. She seemed to smile even as she blew into the holes, her lime green hair shimmering in the sun, her eyes closed with a delightful serenity as she put to music the emotions of her heart, of her home. There was almost a kind of magic to her melodies, one which her small band enhanced into a jig that many found irresistible.

"Move it."

Bowser stomped through the crowd with two of his minions at his side: Kamek the Magikoopa, and General Guy, a two-dimensional paper Shy Guy in a white navy uniform. If anyone was surprised the Koopa King had shown up at his nemesis's wedding, they didn't make it known. Right now, Bowser had eyes only for the suspicious black stall; he smelled a rat. A familiar one, too. He strode up to the hooded salesman.

"So, what kind of crap are you selling here?"

Without waiting for either an answer or permission, he flicked open the nearest chest and raised an eyebrow. Sitting on velvet cushions inside were several glittering badges. Badges he could've sworn he'd seen Mario use against him back in the day. He then noticed the hooded figure had raised its head somewhat as it watched him, revealing a peculiar feature: a long duck bill, protruding from the shadows of the hood.

Bowser narrowed his eyes. Suddenly, he swept his thick arm across the entire display, scattering the chests and badges across the cobblestones. The hooded figure, realizing it had been found out, made to run the other way, but Bowser was too fast. He grabbed it by the neck and ripped off the cloak to reveal the stout blue platypus underneath.

"I knew it!" Bowser roared, shaking Chet Rippo like a rag doll. Rippo had once been responsible for Bowser's inconvenient detour through a portal to Corneria, and then Onett, and then Rainbow Ride on his way to Master Hand's Room. But what really comprised the core of Bowser's loathing for the swindling black-marketeer was that the Koopa had been unexpectedly defeated by him during the Fourside Tournament—humiliated in front of hundreds of spectators.

"Mister Koopa…" Rippo spluttered, his little webbed feet and stubby arms flailing helplessly. "Please…permit me to engage in a bit of honest business—"  
"HONEST BUSINESS?!" Bowser dropped Chet Rippo onto the ground and leaned back and laughed. By now, at least half the town square had paused to watch the alarming spectacle. "Here's what I think of your honest business."

The torrent of flames consumed the entire stand. Rippo shrieked; he attempted in vain to gather some few of his scattered Badges, but the fire was spreading too hot, too fast.

"Now get out of here, cretin! And don't come back!"

Rippo hopped over his stand and began running toward the Castle Town's front gates, panting like a pig. He didn't look back until he was already halfway across Hyrule Field, having forgotten that the nearest portal out of Hyrule was at the gate itself. He hobbled back to the purple aluminum foil-like segment of the wall which constituted the portal and jumped through and was gone.

"Nicely done, my king," Kamek lauded.

People stared at Bowser for several seconds, wondering if the Hylian guards would do anything about what had just happened. But seeing that the Koopa King did not appear on the verge of committing any additional violence, they merely set about retrieving buckets of water to put out the lingering flames of Chet Rippo's charbroiled merchandise.

Throughout the square, many famous faces stood in conversing clusters: Prince Peasley and Queen Bean with Princess Éclair and the Chestnut King; several of Mario's partners from previous adventures such as Goombario, Parakarry, Lady Bow, and Lakilester; Biggoron, who claimed an entire block to himself, and Nabooru, the Gerudo Spirit Sage; even Wario and Waluigi could be seen lurking about, trying to pickpocket or swipe "free" food or jewels wherever they could.

"Were those doofuses really invited?" DK muttered to Meta Knight as they perused the fruit stands.

Meta Knight's eyes glinted with what could conceivably be called amusement—if such emotion was possible from the Star Warrior. "Invited or not, every celebration needs a court jester." Just as he said this, the Wario Bros. were floored by an angry Chestnut King, who had caught them trying to steal Princess Éclair's sugary pearl necklace.

Indeed, in addition to the kingdoms directly linked to the couples, a decent number of Smash Brothers and other representatives were present. April laughed as Kirby juggled King Dedede's hammer and three Waddle Dees—using only his mouth. The penguin monarch himself stood to the side, aghast but reluctant to interfere and thus be labeled a party pooper. Ness and Game & Watch relived old memories of their invasion of Master Hand's Fortress on one of the cottage balconies. The Ice Climbers joined the dancing with an impressive, ebullient energy. Banjo quickly clamped his paw over Kazooie's mouth before the Breegull could peck out one of Sackboy's button eyes for playfully shooting her in the behind with a hot pink paintball. Pit and Roy joined the Master Chief, Marcus Fenix, and Ratchet and Clank in browsing the weapons booth with great interest, although the latter four non-Nintendonians were rather underwhelmed by the strictly medieval technology (that is, until Clank accidentally set off a Deku Nut which exploded and popped his tin head off). Even Sora—who had nowhere else to go, after all—had come, learning all he could about the history of the Mushroom Kingdom and the Smash Universe from Geno and Professor Frankly.

Then, after hours of festivities, a chorus of trumpets sounded from the main gates. Saria's company of Kokiri ended their song, and those on the dance floor cleared out as a path was made for the incoming procession. Two long lines of armored Hylian knights marched around the circular edge of the clearing, making way for the long-awaited arrival of the wedding party.

Mario and Peach came first, seated on Yoshi. The groom was dressed in his cap and overalls as always—nothing else quite suited him even in formal situations—but his clothes were well pressed and cleaner than usual, and there was a Fire Flower pinned to his chest pocket. Peach, on the other hand, looked radiant in her wedding dress, which was as soft and pearly as perfect clouds, the curly golden sun of her hair draped elegantly over her back. As ever, the groom looked happy but nervous, while the bride was blushing with scarcely containable pleasure. On Yoshi's side walked the Best Man—Luigi, who had actually worn a traditional suit and bowtie. And on the other side was the Maid of Honor—Goombella, whose already pink Goomba figure had deepened to a scarlet blush. Their significant others, April and Goombario, couldn't help but watch enviously from the sidelines as they reached the fountain and turned around to await the rest of the party.

Atop a magnificent honey-maple-colored stallion rode Link, who wore a light silver tunic and cap along with all his usual gear. He stared ahead uncertainly as Princess Zelda clung to his waist behind him, her dress just as stunning as Peach's, her golden ringlets cascading over her shoulders. To either side of the horse, Marth took his place as Link's Best Man, and Malon—Link's childhood friend who had helped him secure his first and most beloved steed, Epona—served both as Zelda's Maid of Honor and in directing the horse (a direct descendant of Epona, as it happened) into the town square. Together, the party was a sight both unusual and beautiful.

A stately Hylian man dressed in a suit cleared his throat. "Esteemed guests; friends and family of the betrothed; in keeping with Hylian tradition, the marriage of our heroes and princesses shall be preceded by a dance. And then, in keeping with the traditions of the Mushroom Kingdom, we shall have a feast prior to the ceremony itself. And now I ask your attention as our happy couples lead out in the first dance."

The crowd applauded as the heroes dismounted and held out their hands to help their fiancées down. The rest of the party backed away as two new musicians took to the stage: Medli, a young Rito girl with a harp; and Makar, a stout, star-shaped little tree with a face on a single leaf (they were called Koroks), carrying a violin. Both had come all the way from the Great Sea on the other side of Smash Planet on special request of Link and Zelda. And once they put finger and bow to string, it immediately became clear why. The melodious duet was one close to Zelda's heart, one that somehow seemed to define her throughout all her various incarnations. It commanded utter silence from the crowd.

Mario and Peach held each other and stepped and swayed with practiced ease. They had danced on many other occasions, after all—what with the thousands of party games that had afforded almost every imaginable (and unimaginable) physical activity. Neither of them said anything, merely content to treasure this moment which both of them had doubted would ever come.

Link and Zelda were a much, much different story.

"Um…" Link fumbled for Zelda's left hand and his right arm hung uncertainly at his side. "How do I…?"

"Oh, for Hylia's sake, Link." Zelda took his arm and placed it properly on her back. "You mean to tell me you can teach me how to fish, how to hunt, and how to climb, yet you don't know how to dance?" But she was smiling, and Link took comfort in understanding that Zelda's reprimand was one of loving retribution.

And so, in reality, it was Zelda who led their steps and their movements—gently urging him side to side, forward and backward, in a kind of graceful waltz which Link had no problem yielding control over to his partner.

Just when he felt like he was starting to get the hang of it, Zelda doing a spin under his arm and then back again, he made the mistake of glancing over at Mario and Peach. They were already into lifts and dips and slides as Medli and Makar's duet came to a powerful climax. For some reason, the plumber's antics seemed to bother him more than any loss in a Smash Tournament ever had. But he reminded himself that this was a happy occasion and it wouldn't do to spoil it with petty comparisons. After all, it was the diversity of the Smash Brothers that made them strong.

Both couples finished the dance with a flourish as the musicians played a long vibrato-rich end note.

The crowd applauded, and then the musical duo began another song, this one a serenade full of mystery and wonder, for some reason reminding Link of both Lake Hylia and the Spirit Temple. Other couples joined, including Luigi and April; Goombario and Goombella; Popo and Nana; Prince Peasley and his queenly mother; Princess Éclair and the Chestnut King; and even Lady Bow and her ghostly servant, Bootler.

Then a minuet that took Link's mind to the Lost Woods and the Forest Temple. Then a more upbeat piece with the Kokiri band joining back in with tambourine and pan flute and drums. This song brought Link extreme nostalgia from one of his incarnation's days on Outset Island with a sister and grandmother the Hero of Time had never met, but the Hero of the Winds longed for deeply.

Only problem was, the quicker and cheerier the songs grew, the more coordination was required from Link to keep up with the movements. If Zelda weren't here, he would have made a beeline out of this place and looked for some old storage room with some pots for him to smash in search of Rupees. But as it was, Zelda's glowing happiness, the radiance on her face, the sparkle in her eyes, made him willing to let go of his worries and take her hands and laugh and make a fool of himself—although he did make a point to avoid the side where a circle was cheering Mario's breakdancing, or the other part where Popo and Nana had created a small slippery ice rink and were performing acrobatic dance moves he'd never thought possible.

* * *

 **Hyrule Castle**

* * *

The feast was no less impressive or elaborate than the dance. With the banquet hall long since repaired from Metal Donkey Kong's destructive break-in, guests sat around dozens of circular tables with white tablecloths and ornate dishes, goblets, and silverware. As before, several enormous crystal chandeliers hung from the high ceiling, their hundreds of yellow candle flames brilliantly illuminating the entire room.

Gourmet drinks and entrées decorated platters and punch bowls, though in addition to traditional Hylian delicacies such as Roast Cucco and Fairy Spring Water, a distinguished Toad chef from the Mushroom Kingdom called Taste T. had provided several of her homeland's greatest concoctions as well—such as Shroom Soufflé, Chucklehuck Soda, and Mario's personal favorite: spaghetti and meatballs. Even Chef Kawasaki from Cappytown had been hired to produce his signature Super Spicy Curry, which had any guest foolish enough to try it chugging one glass after another to alleviate the burn.

All of this was accompanied by the relaxing overtones of a man with an accordion—a man Link distinctly recognized as the owner of the windmill in Kakariko Village. In any case, his playing was first rate, and it established an appropriately regal, romantic mood.

At the head of all the rest, the wedding party's table was piled with Mario's and Link's favorite dishes, while the princesses contented themselves to nibble on a roll or take small bites of salad or sip tea here and there. Mario was so happy at the moment—food, princess, peace—that he almost spat out the meatball in his mouth when a purple pool of liquid matter appeared on the floor before him, and from it rose two almost amorphous figures.

One was short with a blue-and-white striped witch's hat and a long, hooked nose; the other looked like a giant bloated plum with chubby cheeks and a comparable yellow-and-white hat.

Beldam and Marilyn—the Shadow Sirens.

Mario had nearly forgotten about them—about how their third sister, Vivian, had been one of his closest partners during his journey to the Thousand-Year Door; about how she had always seemed to nurture a shy infatuation with him; about how she had given her life to save him in Master Hand's room from a wrathful Fawful. It seemed almost unreal that her other two sisters were still around after all this time.

"Guuuhhh," Marilyn said.

"Marilyn's right, Mario," Beldam said with a snicker. "You _do_ look like you've seen a ghost. What's the matter? Did you forget to cross our names off the guest list before inviting all your old Rogueport buddies?"

"Er…no. It's a-good to see you," Mario said awkwardly, glancing at Peach beside him for help. She immediately understood and smiled at Beldam graciously.

"Thank you so much for coming," she said. "We're honored to have old friends come so far to celebrate with us."

"Yeah, yeah." Beldam tipped the brim of her hat dismissively. "It's good to see that at least _some_ Nintendonians get happy endings."

There was literally nothing to say to that. So Peach changed the subject.

"How's Rogueport? I understand the people there have finally accepted your return after the War of the Hands."

"Guuuuhhh," Marilyn explained.

* * *

Meanwhile, an old man in red-orange robes walked slowly up to Link and Zelda. He was mostly bald but with a thick white mustache that connected one sideburn to the other. His eyes were a rich topaz, full of light. Which made sense, since he was the Sage of Light.

"Rauru," Link said with a little surprise. "I haven't seen you since…"

"Since we last sealed Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm, yes," Rauru said. "But I have been seeing you—watching your endeavors in my owl form."

"Owl form?" Link scrunched his forehead and tried to remember. And then it came to him. "You mean Kaepora Gaebora, who helped me collect the three Spiritual Stones as a kid? You and him were the same person this whole time?"

Rauru raised an eyebrow. "Of course." He looked at Zelda. "You never told him?"

Link tried not to look at his fiancée accusingly. But she smiled, a little sheepish, and shrugged.

"Sorry, Link. You never asked, and it just never came up."

Rauru stood there in awkward silence for a moment, then leaned forward and grasped both Link's and Zelda's hands. "At any rate, I came to congratulate you two on your wedding; the Heroes of Legend have long sought the heart of Hylia's avatar—but you, Link, are the first to actually do something about it."

Link scratched his head. "Yeah, well, it helps to remember all of the Zeldas at once, and to realize how foolish I was to rescue Zelda and save Hyrule all those times and then never do anything else afterward."

Rauru chuckled. "Indeed, Hero of Time. Indeed."

* * *

At another table, a rather different disturbance was taking place. To the applause and laughter of many, Kirby was testing how precisely he could suck food from specific guests' plates across the room, adjusting the aperture of his mouth to control the flow of air—although the word "control" might have been a bit too generous in this circumstance.

"Kirby." Meta Knight nudged him and inclined his head toward King Dedede, who had deliberately sat as far from Kirby as possible and was about to dig into a Cucco breast, his mouth salivating. Kirby smiled a sneaky smile and nodded.

Not only did the chicken fly out of Dedede's hands, but it made a point of smacking him in the face on the way over, as if the Cucco's restless spirit had sought revenge on its would-be consumer. Dedede yelled in frustration and stood and pointed at the puffball.

"For the love of all that is edible—I can't enjoy my supper for five minutes without that moochin' menace suckin' the joy out of everything!" He began to reach for his hammer in his anger, but luckily realized that picking a fight with Kirby in the middle of a room full of Smash Brothers wouldn't be the best idea. Especially if he ever wanted anyone to believe his story about seeing Master Hand on the Fountain of Dreams. Instead, he just glared at Kirby and sat back down and folded his arms while a waiter ran off to refill his empty plate. "I'm tellin' y'all…Kirby's stomach is a doggone black hole!"

The nicely dressed Hylian chose that as the opportune moment to tap his glass with a spoon and call everyone's attention.

"Ladies and gentlemen—thank you all again for joining us tonight. We will now hear a few words from the groomsmen and bridesmaids, and finally from the happy couples themselves. Please lend your ears and not your tongues."

Quiet swept across the room. Tentatively, Luigi stood, shaking slightly but gaining confidence after an encouraging nod from Mario.

"Uh…I just want to say that I'm a-so proud of you right now, Bro. We've come a long a-way, and you were always there for a-me just like you've been there for the princess and for the Mushroom a-Kingdom. And you, a-princess…your pure a-heart is a gift to all of us. Thank you a-both. For everything."

Applause.

"You said it, Green 'Stache!" Bowser roared, eliciting laughter from those around him.

Next, Goombella hopped onto the table so everyone could see her.

"Well, I think I can speak for everyone here when I say this whole shebang can be summarized in one word: _Finally!_ " Laughter. Goombella winked at the pair. "You guys've gotta be the cutest, most star-crossed lovers I've ever known, and just the fact that this is actually happening…I dunno, it just seems like things are unfolding exactly the way they're supposed to, and I'm, like, _so_ excited to see what the future holds for the two of you, and for all of us. Cheers!"

Once the applause subsided, Marth stood and took his turn.

"I confess I must challenge Goombella's claim; you see, I have ridden into battle beside Link, and have sat in council with Princess Zelda, and I have known no combination of courage and wisdom more star-crossed than these two. In Akaneia, we believe that magic in itself does not make one a hero—rather, it is how that magic is used which defines us." He then made eye contact with Banjo from across the room. "And as the shaman Mumbo Jumbo likewise taught, it is not magic that makes us strong; but it is the beating heart that magic runs through—a conduit which shall make or break us when the darkest of times arrive. Link and Zelda are both strong not only in magic, but in their hearts; I daresay there is not a shred of guile within either of them, and I wish them every blessing the Hand of Fate has seen fit to bestow upon them. You deserve it."

Finally, Malon stood. Her voice was so quiet that people had to lean forward and strain their ears to hear.

"I don't have much to add, I'm afraid. Only this: Link once tamed a young colt named Epona—a colt my master believed to be untamable. He cares for others better than he cares for himself, which I suppose is both a blessing and a curse…but even though Epona is no longer with us—fallen to Master Hand's armies—I know she loved Link more than any animal ever loved a man. And Link, if you take care of your princess as well as you took care of her—to the very end—then you will have a happiness together which I cannot help but envy, but which I can help by congratulating you. Please…be well. And never take your love for granted, for there are many who would give much—who would give anything—to be in your place."

And from there the feast went on, and not even Kirby left that banquet unsatisfied.

* * *

 **Kokiri Forest**

 **Hyrule**

* * *

The homes of the Kokiri were decked out just as much as—if not more than—the Castle Town. The hollowed-out tree stump houses were garnished with bulbous lights, which were strung across the hollow from dwelling to dwelling, from tree to tree, from suspended bridge to suspended bridge. The pine smell was enhanced by freshly planted flowers strange to anyone outside of the woods, colorful and aromatic and perfect. The glowing fireflies reflected off small brooks and contrasted against the darkening sky of dusk.

Kokiri danced and fairies bounced through the air as they led the wedding procession from the portal at the back of Link's old home to the path which went to the Great Deku Tree (the ground had been cleared of all Deku Babas and other potentially disruptive creatures).

They entered the clearing where the "young adult" Deku Tree stood some forty feet tall now—still not quite up to his original grandeur since he had been poisoned by Ganon long ago, but grand enough to merit his epithet, "Great." His twisting bark features cracked to life as everyone entered his hollow; he shook his large canopy of branches as if he were stretching his limbs.

"AT LAST," he boomed. "THE HEROES AND THEIR PRINCESSES HAVE ARRIVED. LET THEM COME FORWARD."

As Link escorted Zelda toward the tree beside Mario and Peach, he couldn't help but question slightly the choice of their marriage official. As wise and thoughtful as the Great Deku Tree was, he did tend to ramble and speak in cryptic metaphors that few if anyone understood at the time, and which even fewer found to be actually helpful. But he took a deep breath and laid his concerns aside and took Zelda's hand, and they smiled at each other and then at the tree. Mario and Peach had done likewise. Their friends and family and comrades and random citizen acquaintances nearly filled the spacious hollow, and yet the only sound that could be heard was the tranquil hush of the tree leaves rustling in the evening breeze.

"OF ALL TIMES IN THE HISTORY OF THE SMASH UNIVERSE, IT IS BY NO COINCIDENCE THESE UNIONS ARE HAPPENING NOW," the Deku Tree began, his voice slow and deliberate. "AS YOU ALL KNOW, THE EVENTS SET IN MOTION BY MASTER HAND AND ACCELERATED BY L.O.G. HAVE BROUGHT ABOUT DRAMATIC CHANGES IN THIS WORLD. NO LONGER NEED WE FEAR OUR NEIGHBOR; NO LONGER NEED WE HIDE OUR CONCERNS, OUR DREAMS, OUR LOVE FROM EACH OTHER. NOW IS THE TIME OF PEACE, WHEN ALL STRIFE—ON A GRAND SCALE, AT ANY RATE—HAS CEASED. YES, NEW THREATS WILL ALWAYS ARISE; BUT NOTHING IN THIS UNIVERSE IS MORE POWERFUL THEN THE BONDS THAT HAVE BEEN FORMED BETWEEN OUR WORLDS.

"NOW, AS WE JOIN THESE HEROES TOGETHER IN MATRIMONY, LET THIS BE THE TIME WHEN WE _ALL_ MAKE A VOW—TO PROMOTE THE PEACE WHICH HAS BROUGHT US THIS UNPRECEDENTED PROSPERITY, AND TO PURIFY OUR HEARTS AS THESE PRINCESSES HAVE THEIRS, TO BE WORTHY STEWARDS OF THIS MARVELOUS WORLD WHICH WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN."

Some among the crowd were already beginning to doze. Dedede was openly snoring, though with a sharp prick in the rear from Meta Knight's Galaxia, he sprang awake and did not fall asleep again.

"AND SO, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, I GIVE YOU MARIO AND PEACH OF THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM; AND LINK AND ZELDA OF HYRULE. BEFORE I RECITE YOUR VOWS, HOWEVER, I MUST CONFORM TO A RATHER OBSOLETE, TIME-OLD CONVENTION: IF THERE BE ANY AMONG YOU WHO, FOR ANY REASON, BELIEVE THESE COUPLES SHOULD NOT BE WED, PLEASE SPEAK NOW—OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE. AND I DO MEAN FOREVER."

That got a chuckle from Link as the hollow fell into silence. It was times like these that Link was grateful he lived in a world with such a rich combination of wisdom and wittiness.

"Regrettably, I must object."

The deep voice from the back of the hollow brought every head around to behold the speaker. Link, Zelda, Peach, Mario, and the others squinted in confusion and shock, as if asking their brains for a second opinion on what they had just heard. And who they now saw.

"No," Zelda breathed. "It can't be…"

But it was. Lord Ganondorf strode straight into the crowd, his malevolent purple aura driving everyone instinctively back as he made his way toward the Deku Tree and the couples. As Link looked into those savage, coal-like eyes—eyes he never thought he'd have to see again—he felt as if the man were somehow even more malicious than before, as if those eyes were endless pits into an abyss of pure evil. But he couldn't have explained why if his life had depended on it.

"Every time," Peach muttered under her breath. "Every time we try to have a good, wholesome event—something crazy or awful has to happen."

Mario heard her and squeezed her hand. They exchanged a reassuring look and turned back to the intruder.

Ganondorf's grin widened as he paused a short distance from the couples, all four of whom were in battle stances—along with the surrounding Smash Brothers and other allies: Saria; Nabooru; Biggoron; Luigi; Yoshi; Goombario; Goombella; Bowser; Kamek; General Guy; Wario; Waluigi; Peasley; the Chestnut King; Geno; Sora; Beldam; Marilyn; Parakarry; Lady Bow; Lakilester; DK; April; Kirby; Dedede; Meta Knight; Pit; Ness; the Ice Climbers; Marth; Roy; Game & Watch; Banjo & Kazooie; Marcus Fenix; Master Chief; Ratchet and Clank; Sackboy.

"Unfortunately," Ganondorf said, leering at Link and Zelda, "the bond of the Triforce is not a two-way bond—but a _three-_ way one. You can no more exclude the Triforce of Power from your union than you can divide the daylight from the desert sun."

Link pointed the Master Sword at Ganondorf, covering Zelda with his Hylian Shield. He narrowed his eyes.

"You're outnumbered, Ganon," he said. "Our friends, and our strength, have tripled since we last met. You will leave our wedding in peace, or we will seal you back in the Sacred Realm right now."

"Outnumbered?" Ganondorf laughed softly and raised both arms into the air. "Am I?"

Almost instantly, the darkening sky deepened to a sickly salmon and then an ominous blood red. A dismal wind swept through the trees as every unoccupied piece of earth became a swirling blackness, from which emerged a host of queer creatures.

They were sort of like giant Pikmin, except completely black with antennae and blank, glowing yellow eyes. And there were hundreds and hundreds of them. Some were much larger than others, and thicker and more muscular, while others were tall and slender with blade-like arms. But all of them emanated one overriding emotion: emptiness.

For the moment, however, they did nothing.

"These are the Heartless," Ganondorf continued. "They are creatures devoid of emotion, devoid of life in all but the most technical of ways—the lost souls of people whose hearts were torn from them. Not unlike what all of your souls will soon be."

Sora, afraid but indignant, pushed his way to the front and raised his Kingdom Key. "If you're working for Xehanort, tell him to leave This World alone. He can try and take me, but these people have nothing to do with it."

Ganondorf sneered. "Why not tell him yourself?"

From behind the Great Deku Tree—which had become rigid and inanimate once again—Xehanort himself came into view, one hand behind his back. Sora and the couples gasped and formed a circle, sandwiched between the two supervillains.

"Judgment falls upon all of us, Sora," Xehanort croaked with a pitying smile, his eyes aflame. "It matters not which country, or world, or planet, or dimension, or universe—it is a reckoning none can escape, and all will suffer. You and your new friends just happen to be next on the list."

"We'll see about that!"

As Sora rushed at Xehanort with his Keyblade, the hollow was plunged into chaos. The Heartless and the guests clashed in a virtual explosion of attacks: Energy beams and fire and ice and arrows and magic bursts. The shadowy creatures, however, did not fight with any such personalized weapons, but simply struck with dark fists and blade arms and full-body charges. Those Heartless who were struck enough times burst into thousands of dark fragments which dissolved into the air.

Link and Zelda ran at Ganondorf, who merely stood there with his arms folded in bemusement. Just as they were about to strike with blade and magic, he stretched out one palm and cast a sphere of crackling white energy at Zelda, which blasted her back all the way into the Great Deku Tree. Immediately after, Ganondorf caught the Master Sword's blade with both hands as its tip stopped inches from his heart.

Link yelled and grunted as he pushed with all his might. But he was making absolutely no headway.

"There are powers beyond even that of the Triforce, Link…powers not of This World or even this universe. Let me give you a small taste."

He kicked Link away, who barely managed to hold onto the Master Sword as he collapsed to the ground. He watched as Ganondorf generated a sword of his own in both hands—a massive black broadsword with serrated edges, an inverted red Triforce symbol near the hilt, and a few notched points jutting from the blade that made it look rather like a key.

Link couldn't understand at that time how Ganondorf had acquired the lost sword of Demise, nor why it had now become a Keyblade. But as he shakily stood up, these troubling questions did cross his mind.

* * *

Sora and Xehanort clashed Keyblades once again. Deep in the back of Sora's mind, he knew there was no way this would end any better than last time, but he had to try.

Xehanort's aged face was grim but amused. "Why do you protect This World, boy? The Destiny Islands where we were both born may be here, but it is ripe for judgment, and you owe them nothing…and even if you did owe them, you cannot do anything to stop this."

"They're innocent!" Sora yelled as his thin arms began to give way. "So were the others you destroyed. Even after you were proven wrong, when your Heartless, Ansem, was consumed by the goodness of Kingdom Hearts, you still use its power for evil. You talk about judgment, but you deserve to die more than anyone!"

Xehanort finally shoved Sora to the ground and pointed the tip of his blade at the boy's chest as he had before. "True," he said, "I have committed many, many crimes against nature. But I have embraced the darkness in my heart enough to wield it, and to postpone my judgment indefinitely by serving as a sort of destroying angel for others. Who knows? Perhaps one day, with enough Kingdom Hearts, I may be able to supersede nature's judgments with my own."

It was then that Mario struck with a blazing fist, knocking Xehanort back and sparing Sora his imminent impalement. He pulled Sora to his feet, who was surprised Xehanort hadn't already retaliated until he noticed that two wooden arm rockets had pushed the villain further still, which then returned and reattached themselves to Geno.

"A victory for you is not in the stars," the puppet said.

But although Xehanort had been pushed away, he did not appear wearied or injured in the slightest. His expression was the exact same combination of amused solemnity. He did not make another move, appearing content to await their next attack.

"Let's a-go," Mario said, forming the largest, hottest fireball he could muster even as Sora powered up his Keyblade's magic and Geno charged his laser. And then, as one, the fireball, ice blast, and Geno Beam converged on Xehanort, creating a respectably large explosion which caused even the nearby Heartless to jump in surprise and crawl out of harm's way.

But the blast cleared to reveal that absolutely nothing had changed. Xehanort raised his Keyblade to the sky, channeling a thick bolt of black lightning, which then projected in three smaller bolts into the three heroes, striking them all down simultaneously.

"Do not worry," he said, slowly stalking up to their crippled figures. "None of you shall die this day—save for the one I promised to Lord Ganondorf." He inclined his head toward the two distant figures of Link and Ganondorf, who were still fighting. "Before your judgment, I am bound to produce proof of your deserved fates, and that will require some time. Speaking of which…" He looked around him at the rest of the battling heroes and Heartless. "I think it's time we expedite this little skirmish…don't you?"

* * *

Ganondorf grabbed Link by the throat and held his helpless figure up. Link gasped and tried to knock himself free, but the Gerudo's arms were as strong as tree trunks.

"This is all I ever wanted…just you and me." He looked out at the forest, which was now aflame from what could have been any number of flammable attacks. He frowned. "Still…there is a better venue for us to finish this, isn't there? A place where you can behold what is becoming of not just these woods, but all of Hyrule—and then, all of the Smash Universe. Bid your bride goodbye."

Zelda, however, was unconscious by the tree, her body being protected by Princess Peach, her frying pan, and her animate parasol, Perry. Two brides robbed of their wedding night, struggling for their lives. Link was not afforded the luxury of saying goodbye as Ganondorf transported the two of them in a shroud of purple magic.

* * *

The next thing Link knew, they were standing in a graveyard—the one partway up the base of Death Mountain at the top of Kakariko Village. The one with several hollow graves that led to subterranean tunnels infested with life-sucking ReDeads—not to mention the terrifying Shadow Temple.

Ganondorf threw Link onto the ground and stepped back a few paces, waiting patiently with sword raised while Link staggered to his feet once more. In spite of his perilous situation, he could not help but be awestruck by the sight before them.

The entire sky over Hyrule was blood red, with bolts of black lightning streaking across every few seconds like broken hearts. What was more, even from here he could hear the screams of the villagers down below and which he imagined were being equaled by those of the ranchers in Lon Lon Ranch and of the citizens of Castle Town as thousands upon thousands of Heartless flooded through Hyrule Field into every occupiable space. The wind howled with near gale force, toppling the weaker trees and tearing off poorly secured rooftops and sending helpless Cuccos spiraling up into the sky in what under other circumstances might have been a comical fashion. It was like the sky had been bathed in blood, and the landscape drenched in thick black ink.

"Face me, boy," Ganondorf said.

And so they fought. Link found fairies popping out of bottles hidden in his tunic, revitalizing him and giving him strength to fight back harder than ever. He hopped over gravestones while Ganondorf simply kicked them down. He tossed his boomerang and cast Din's Fire and Deku Nuts and Bombchus and almost every conceivable weapon he possessed—even his fishing rod. But Ganondorf evaded or deflected or absorbed it all, like a giant sponge that fed on power in any form.

Link noticed a low-hanging branch of a barren tree overhead. He quickly took out his Hookshot and fired it at the branch, and then as he shot up toward the tree, he swung off the branch and kicked Ganondorf squarely in the shoulders—hard enough to send him off the ledge of the graveyard into the first cobblestone alleys of Kakariko Village below. Without hesitation, he leapt off the ledge himself and drove his sword toward Ganondorf's chest.

But the Gerudo rolled out of the way just in time, and then their fight resumed, and they worked their way further and further into the village even as Heartless and screaming people scattered around them.

* * *

"Take that, you punks!"

Bowser burrowed his shell beneath several Heartless at once and shoved it upward, spearing them all and tearing them apart. To his left, Nabooru was using her Gerudo strength to more literally spear Heartless on all sides. To his right, Master Chief and Marcus Fenix unloaded their guns upon several larger, troll-like Heartless, Fenix's Lancer simultaneously shredding approaching foes with its chainsaw edge.

As Bowser fought on, with the occasional explosive egg or PK Flash or giant yarn ball flying over him, he couldn't help but feel a surge of twisted satisfaction as the Smash Brothers and other allies massacred these pathetic shadow creatures. Was this really the best Xehanort could come up with?  
But then he noticed something peculiar: As each Heartless was shredded and vaporized, its dark essence did not completely go away; instead, a dark gray haze was accumulating throughout the hollow wherever the Heartless had been destroyed. A haze that gave Bowser a very, very, very bad feeling. And he didn't have to wait long for his instinct to be confirmed.

Most of the Heartless in the hollow were now destroyed, and now at the center in front of the Great Deku Tree, Xehanort was confronting the three heroes of Dreamland: Kirby, Meta Knight, and Dedede.

But before any of them could charge, Xehanort conjured another bolt of black lightning, which surged from his Keyblade, this time forming a ring around Kirby and Meta Knight, and striking Dedede as it made its way around.

Meta Knight, however, vanished from the fence of lightning using his Dimensional Cape. He reappeared behind Xehanort and plunged Galaxia toward the man's back.

Xehanort spun around and blocked the blade inches from piercing his chest. He caused a powerful gust of wind to sweep Meta Knight into the air and slam him back into the lightning fence beside Kirby.

Then Xehanort's expression actually changed—into a small smile.

"You so-called heroes talk of innocence…of purity…but I tell you that _there_ _is_ _no innocence_. There is no such thing as a 'pure heart,' for even the seemingly best of characters have at least one small seed of darkness within them. All I am doing today is making everyone in This World aware of that inherent darkness, of each of your imperfect roots, and giving it the soil to flourish." His eyes flickered dangerously. "I have had a change of heart; I think for this transition to go smoothest, one more person must die. Kirby of Dreamland…you shall serve as an example to all. People stake their lives on the belief that beings like you, and Princess Peach, and Princess Zelda, have no darkness in them. But let this experiment show you all otherwise."

A single Heartless popped out of the ground right in front of Kirby. The puffball, under immediate threat, did what his reflexes always demanded under such situations: He sucked it into his mouth.

Meta Knight's keen eyes widened. "Wait, Kirby. Do not swallow—"

But it was too late. Kirby's transformation changed his body to pure blackness, with the same empty yellow eyes as the Heartless and the same insectoid antennae. He looked confused, as if he'd just experienced amnesia and had forgotten where he was and what he was doing.

"Kirby…" Meta Knight took a step toward his Star Warrior friend. "Are you all right?"

Heartless Kirby stared at Meta Knight strangely. Then, an unmistakable expression came over him: Hunger.

He leapt forward without warning and hammered Meta Knight straight in his mask, cracking it down the middle. Meta Knight rolled over and regained his footing, beating his wings and rising into the air, the hand holding Galaxia shaking.

"This is not you, Kirby; you are the most fearless, uncorrupted hero of all of Dreamland. Whatever demon has possessed you, fight it! Do not let Xehanort win!"

But Heartless Kirby came back again, this time with a Cutter Blade. It went so fast that Meta Knight was only able to prevent it from hitting his face; his right wing, however, was slashed severely, grounding him for good. He struggled on the ground like an injured bat, having much more difficulty rising this time.

And then Heartless Kirby's hunger took over. He opened his mouth, which was only slightly blacker than the rest of his body, and began to inhale.

"No, Kirby…" Meta Knight's wing twitched. "You are not a monster…"

But the black Smasher seemed to have no ears for his fellow Star Warrior. Slowly, Meta Knight's body was dragged along the ground. And then, just before it lifted into the air, the cracked metal mask flew off in two pieces, revealing Meta Knight's true face: a face that was almost exactly like Kirby's, except with a dark blue body and dauntless, glowing, mature yellow eyes.

"No!"

Bowser watched in horror as the leader of the Smash Brothers disappeared into Heartless Kirby's mouth—never to return again to this mortal world. Bowser felt a heated rage boiling up inside him. He prepared to combust the chemicals in his throat and directed his maw toward Xehanort's calm, observing figure.

"You're gonna regret that, baldy!"

As he took in his preparatory breath, however, he disregarded all those around him who had strangely become as still and calm as Xehanort, dropping their weapons, their eyes glazing over, their bodies and clothes losing color. Bowser, too, found himself inhaling the dark gray haze, which entered through his nostrils and spread rapidly through the rest of his body, infecting him with a strange new point of view.

Suddenly, all of this fighting seemed pointless. Master Xehanort had come to exercise his righteous judgment. Everything was as it should be.

Why was he fighting, again?

* * *

Link cried out in pain as Ganondorf punched him in the gut, slamming him onto the unforgiving edge of the well in the village square. He heard a crack as his backbone threatened to break. He could not get up this time.

Ganondorf stepped forward until he was looking down directly into Link's eyes. "It is finished. Now, in a matter of hours, the Heartless will awaken the darkness within every heart in This World, this planet, this universe. Xehanort has granted me and twelve others vassalage over these kingdoms, although with the hearts of every soul darkened, he will need no security—only bearers of small pieces of his power while he absorbs This World's Kingdom Hearts. The only one immune to the Heartless' spell—the boy, Sora—will be locked away in Oblivion, never to escape, never to lift the Kingdom Key against Xehanort again. Hyrule shall be—agh!"

Link left the Master Sword sticking out of Ganondorf's chest, having used the last of his strength to pierce the Gerudo's tough armor and flesh. The Blade of Evil's Bane, fixed in its impaled state, glowed with an ancient power.

But Ganondorf did not fall. Instead, he began laughing softly, then laughed louder still. He pulled the Master Sword straight out of his chest, swung his giant Keyblade down, and snapped the Master Sword in half.

Link had no words, only emotions: Horror. Pain. Defeat.

Ganondorf tossed the broken hilt onto the ground, where its glow faded to nothing. "I told you, boy...there are powers beyond even that of the Triforce. The sliver of Kingdom Hearts given me by Xehanort grants me the might of a hundred men and the magic to break even the Master Sword's divine enchantment. Now, enough."

Ganondorf brought back his arm, poised to thrust his Keyblade through Link's already-crippled body.

Link closed his eyes, prepared for death. Prepared to meet whatever disgrace awaited him in the afterlife.

 _Zelda…_

He waited a full twenty seconds…but nothing happened.

He opened his eyes to find Ganondorf's face less than a foot away from his. The blackness of the man's eyes was fixed upon him. They flickered for an instant to a cool gray.

"Your heart is not strong enough, Link," Ganondorf whispered, grasping Link's tunic. "Not yet."

And then he threw Link into the well.

Link screamed as he fell for what seemed like an eternity. When his body finally snapped against the water, he could feel his back definitely break, along with any number of other bones. He could taste blood on his lips, his body chilled by foul-smelling water, and then, just when he thought he would be allowed to die in peace, he heard a disgusting, slug-like shuffle from behind him.

The distant red light of the well's opening was eclipsed by the slimy figure of a Like-Like, which leaned down eagerly and slurped up Link's body, gurgling as it crept back into the mazes of the bottom of the well.

* * *

 **END OF BOOK 1**


	9. Chapter 7: Dream within a Dream

Book 2

The World of Heartless

* * *

" _You're a hero worth dying for."_

 _ **~Princess Zelda**_

* * *

Chapter 7: Dream within a Dream

* * *

 **? ? ? ? ? ?**

* * *

 ** _L_** ink slowly opened his eyes, feeling nothing. And, for that matter, seeing nothing; all was as black as it had been behind his eyelids.

 _Am I blind?_

 _Am I dead?_

His mind was as muddled as freshly squeezed Chu Jelly, his memories spinning and flashing through his blurred consciousness. So much had just happened, but all he could recall right now was that it had been terrible, and he should be dead.

And maybe he was.

Then the blackness faded away, revealing a dark, arched wooden ceiling with tree ring patterns and knots that looked like sinister eyes watching him. His eyelashes blurred the edges of his vision. And then he noticed he was breathing, lying down on a rather comfortable, downy mattress with wooly covers drawn up to his shoulders.

He tried to lift his head, but almost immediately an excruciating pain shot from his neck. He groaned and then opted to merely turn his head, which was still painful, but at least bearable. He beheld that he was in a small bedroom, with two small, sand-flecked windows on opposite walls before and behind him, white floral drapes keeping out much of the bright midmorning light outside. There was a single hand-carved wooden chair, a short round table, and a baby blue floor rug. Along the walls of clay bricks was painted an almost obsessive number of seagulls—big ones and small ones, all of them flapping their wings and soaring in a never-ending loop around the cabin's occupant.

It was so still, so…peaceful. And to top it off, Link could hear the faint applause of the ocean come and go. He was sure that he'd been asleep—or unconscious—for quite a while, and yet this homely setting could almost lull him back to sleep right now…

Suddenly it all came back: the spectacular wedding; the market; the dance; the feast; the ceremony with the Great Deku Tree; the intrusion of Ganondorf, Xehanort, and the Heartless; the duel in Kakariko Village; his tumble down the well; and the Like-Like drawing him into its slimy invertebrate body. His heart plummeted.

 _Zelda…_

She and the rest of the wedding guests had been left behind to face the evil invaders alone. Then some of Ganondorf's words came back to him:

 _In a matter of hours, the Heartless will awaken the darkness within every heart in This World, this planet, this universe…_

So it was not just his marriage—not just Hyrule's peace that had been ruined. He didn't know exactly what it meant to awaken the darkness within every heart, but he gathered that the whole universe would now be under Xehanort's thumb, with Ganondorf claiming Hyrule as his own, and Zelda…his precious Zelda…would be trapped in a world saturated in darkness—a world of Heartless.

He had failed to save his world. After the many times the Heroes of Legend had protected Hyrule, his home was now abandoned to an unbeatable enemy. Even Ganondorf had admitted that no one could evade the influence of the Heartless except for Sora, and he would surely be trapped somewhere where Xehanort would ensure he could never escape.

Speaking of which…how had _he_ , Link, escaped? Wasn't he killed by the Like-Like at the bottom of the well? What kind of bizarre afterlife was he in?

Then Ganondorf's last words came again:

 _Your heart is not strong enough, Link…Not yet._

What did he mean by "not yet"? And why hadn't Ganondorf stabbed him instead of just pushing him into the well?

In spite of everything, was it possible…that Ganondorf had been showing mercy?

His thoughts were cut off by the opening door to his right. Through it appeared a girl with bright auburn hair and pleasant chestnut eyes, dressed in a simple sky-blue dress and sandals, a pink lily tucked in her hair. She drew a few feet away from Link's bed and smiled.

"Do you feel okay?"

"I…think so. Who are you?"

She giggled and sat in the chair. "Don't you remember me, Link? I'm Marin. You must've had an awful ordeal when your ship wrecked this time; your body was a real mess when I found you lying on the shore."

"Ship?" Link was even more confused, although now he noticed that much of his body was wrapped with thick bandages, and several long, stiff objects were keeping his limbs and torso straight. "I didn't…I fell down a well…Where are we?"

"Koholint Island, of course," she said. Then her smile diminished. "Or…have you already forgotten? You were marooned here once before, long ago—and then you saved our island and the Wind Fish by getting rid of the Nightmares."

Marin's words did, in fact, produce vague memories in Link's mind. One of his incarnations had indeed done all she had said. But when it was all over, he had merely awoken on a piece of driftwood, floating in the sea once more. So he had always assumed…

"It was all a dream, though," he said. "None of this is real, is it? I'm just trapped in my own mind, stuck in the bottom of that well somewhere…or in a coma…or dead…"

Marin leaned forward and gently held Link's hand, shaking her head. "Koholint is real, Link. The Wind Fish is real. I'm real. The Wind Fish is the one who brought you back to the water near Hyrule's shore, don't you remember? And you _must_ have seen the silhouette of the Wind Fish flying away with me as you woke up."

Link blinked with drowsy surprise. "You're right; I did see a silhouette…" Then he paused. "Wait. _You_ were flying away with him?"

"I can turn into a seagull, Link. That was my heart's dream that came true after you defeated the Nightmares."

"Okay…" Now Link felt alert enough to seriously try to work this out. "Then…if I'm really here, why hasn't this place been darkened like the rest of Nintendo?"

At that, however, Marin smiled enigmatically. "Not every world follows the same rules, Link. You're not at the bottom of a well, and you're not in Hyrule—but that doesn't mean you're just inside your mind."

He sighed and decided to let that stand. He supposed what was important was that they were safe here in…whatever world or universe this was. But now, he needed to get back and—

"Agh!"

The pain resurged as he tried to sit up.

"Try not to move too much, Link," Marin said. "Even after two weeks, your body's still got a long way to go before recovering properly."

His heart dropped again. " _Two weeks?_ "

Marin nodded. "I'm no doctor, but my papa knows his way around the human body. He knew how to feed you liquids while you've been out. He says you've got a dozen broken bones, including your back, and a really bad concussion. It'll take some time before you're able to move around again."

"But…" Link wanted to scream in frustration. He could hardly move, and now he'd be stuck here for who-knew-how-long. "I have to go back…"

"Papa will be back later tonight; we can talk about it more then. For now, just relax." Her eyes brightened. "I know what might cheer you up! Wait right here…" As if he had a choice.

Moments later, Marin returned with a cup of tea and a biscuit, which she helped Link drink and swallow, although it was then he discovered that his arms and legs were more or less functional—it was just his back and ribs and his left shoulder that were immovable.

Once he was done, she then pulled out a beautiful handheld harp which looked like a red letter "D" with ornate, wavy carvings along the edges.

"Music has always played an important part for the Heroes of Legend, hasn't it?" she remarked, testing the strings. "Ocarinas…flutes…the Wind Waker…even wolf howling…and especially the Eight Instruments of the Sirens that you used to awaken the Wind Fish. I love it all. But you know, I've always found the harp to be my favorite."

Link didn't bother asking how she knew about all those other instruments; he just lay back and tilted his head and watched Marin as she plucked the most beautiful melody of golden notes he'd ever heard. He recognized it as the Ballad of the Wind Fish, a serene yet strangely sad song that reminded him of things and people in the past which had been lost, and which he could never get back. All the Heroes inside his head knew so many interesting, charming, memorable individuals, and it was overwhelming for his single consciousness to try and deal with them all at once. So it didn't; it simply suppressed most of them in his subconscious and focused on the most relevant people in the here and now.

Before he knew it, his eyes had drifted shut, and he could feel warm tears pooling beneath his eyelids. So much loss.

* * *

"Marin, is he awake yet?"

The loud voice of Tarin, Marin's father, certainly made it so. Link watched as Marin skipped inside, followed soon after by a rather large man with curly black hair, a pudgy round nose, a thick Italian mustache, and a jolly expression. He was dressed in a rough orange shirt and green trousers. And he was munching on a fistful of red mushrooms with white spots.

"M-Mario?" Link was taken aback at first by how eerily similar the man looked to the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. He'd forgotten that there were in fact a good number of creatures on this island that very closely resembled ones in Mario's homeland—one of the many reasons Link had assumed Koholint Island had all just been a remarkably vivid dream.

Tarin laughed. "Mario? Who's Mario? Someone must've dropped ya on your noggin, Link." He realized, too late, that as far as jokes went, that was a very poor one given the circumstances. "Anyway, it's good to see ya again, my boy." He sized up Link's young adult stature, impressed. "Though it looks like you've grown up a bit, haven't ya? You know, Marin's become quite the ocean flower herself—"

"Papa!" Marin blushed with embarrassment. "Go ahead and give Link some food. He has some questions that you could probably answer better than me."

"Alrighty, then. Eat up, my boy!"

Link feasted on the surprisingly addictive mushrooms, which somehow tasted exactly like the very best Roast Cucco. He wondered whether the fungi adapted their taste to whatever best suited their consumer; perhaps that was why Tarin could never keep his hands—or his mouth—off of them. Link then accepted a glass of what he was told was Seagull Milk (which he also decided not to question), and once he had downed the creamy beverage, Tarin indicated for him to speak whatever was on his mind.

"Thank you so much for taking care of me," Link began, not wanting to appear ungrateful. "But I have to know—how long will it take before I can get back to Hyrule? Everyone there's in terrible danger."

Tarin appeared a bit hesitant to answer. "Well, see here, my boy; with fractures like yours, I'm afraid you'll need at least another couple months to heal. Whatever business you've got'll have to wait, 'cause you'll do nobody any good as a crippled hero."

"But there has to be a faster way," Link said desperately. "Are there not any magical remedies that can heal me more quickly?"

Tarin and Marin glanced at each other.

"The Great Fairy's Fountain might be able to help you," Marin said. "But none of us know where it is."

"I believe the old alchemist in Mabe Village carries a couple bottled Fairies in stock, though," Tarin added upon seeing Link's look of dismay. "I'll go see tomorrow if I can trade for 'em for a reasonable price." He refrained from mentioning how expensive Fairies were, and how modest of a living he made as a fisherman and forest scavenger.

Link felt bad to ask so much of his hosts, but he really didn't feel like he had any choice. "Thank you."

"But understand this, too, my boy," Tarin went on. "Even if we get you on your feet sooner rather than later, there's no telling how your Nintendo World's time is measured compared to ours. You might get back and find it's only been a couple hours since you left…or several decades."

Link tried to keep the panic off his face and out of his voice. "I understand. But that's a risk I'll have to take."

* * *

Link was left to himself the rest of the night, though his sleep was broken by fitful dreams of Xehanort and Ganondorf and the Heartless, and of Zelda and Mario and Peach and Meta Knight and all the rest blaming him for abandoning them.

When Mabe Village's resident Cuccos aroused Link the next morning, Marin came with some hot clam chowder, and she played him more music on her harp until Tarin came back from the alchemist's shop and proudly presented two bottled Fairies.

He uncorked both bottles and allowed both glowing pink spheres to shoot out. They circled above Link's body, pouring white sparks liberally over his most heavily injured areas for several seconds, and then vanished.

"How do you feel, Link?" Marin asked.

Link tentatively moved his arms and legs; he now felt no pain from them, including his broken left shoulder. He then began sitting up. He cringed as a sharp pain still shot up his spine, and yet his body did not refuse his effort to rise. His back was mostly mended, then, but still recovering. Then, taking Marin's and Tarin's hands, he attempted to stand. He stumbled and wobbled and nearly fell over, but finally asserted some semblance of balance. He could stand!

"Take it easy, now, my boy; don't push yourself harder than you're able."

They supported him as he began taking small steps across the room. He beheld the rest of the cottage, which was similarly decorated with seagull paintings and naturally lit by frosted glass windows. Candles had been placed here and there on tables and counters for navigating the rooms at night. Two other doors at the other end marked Marin's and Tarin's bedrooms, though the entire house put together was still only about the size of one of Lon Lon Ranch's smaller chicken houses.

Marin clasped her hands together in delight. "Now I can show you around the island! Can't I, Papa?"

"Only if you're careful," Tarin cautioned—which was somewhat ironic considering the amount of trouble he'd gotten into on Koholint himself, one escapade resulting in his being transformed into a raccoon.

* * *

For the next week, Link slowly began to get used to walking again—using a walking stick and Malon's arm for support. Malon took great pleasure in giving him the full tour (even though he had been here before, his memories were hazy, and it just seemed like the thing to do). Mabe Village was the largest settlement on the island, and yet it was even more modest than Kakariko Village, with just a few small cottages and shops, a fishing hole, and the Trendy Game house, where Link played a crane game to win a Yoshi Doll, which he promptly gave away to a little girl dancing around the weathercock in the town square.

Though many parts of Koholint Island were too dangerous for them to travel unarmed—especially in Link's condition—Marin also accompanied him through the sweeping grass of the prairie, the cemetery, the quaint town of talking critters known as Animal Village, and a hill from which they could behold a twisting river of rapids, the Yarna Desert, and the beautiful Seashell Mansion.

One day, after two more weeks of recovery, he and Marin were slowly making their way down the Toronbo Shores—the very beach where Marin had found Link's washed-up body (twice now). The sky was perfect; the air bright and warm; the salty breeze reminding Link of the Smash Brothers' travels to the islands of RareWare, as well as Toon Link's days aboard _The King's Krystal_. The ocean stretched on endlessly into the horizon, ebbing and flowing with the soothing gentleness of a tilted rain stick.

"You know," Marin said, looking ahead at the rocks and coves that transitioned from the beach to the western cliffs, "you could stay here."

Link said nothing.

"I mean, even if things back in Nintendo are as bad as you say, it sounds like you have a lot of powerful friends—heroes that could fight whatever evil comes their way. The way you talked about some of those space people, I almost wonder whether the Smash Brothers need swordsmen or archers or knights at all. That war against Microsoft sure made it seem so."

Link remained silent.

"And Princess Zelda…you've said there have been many just like her, and many heroes like you. Maybe she'd want you to stay here where it's safe and—"

"Marin."

They stopped. The girl glanced at Link, then stared at the ground shyly, ashamed.

Link smiled with an almost brotherly fondness. "In another life…maybe I could've stayed here with you. Koholint's a beautiful place, and I love everything about it." Link was doing his best to fight his feelings—the very real part of him that wanted to stay here forever. But he couldn't let Marin know that.

"But there was one other time when I failed to return as the Hero of Legend…and it cost Hyrule dearly. Ganon's reign lasted many years, and eventually the Old Hyrule was flooded over and became the Great Sea. I can never make that mistake again—especially because now there are so many more people counting on me; so many worlds in danger besides my own; and enemies maybe even worse than Ganon."

He put a hand on Marin's cheek, wiping away her budding tears with his thumb. "You understand, don't you? I have to go."

She nodded and attempted a smile. "I know."

* * *

Pretty soon afterward, Link was strong enough to walk on his own, although his back was still severely stiff, and he knew he still had a ways to go before being fit to fight so much as a Bokoblin, let alone whatever terrors awaited him back in Nintendo.

And that wasn't his only problem. For one thing, he'd lost both the Master Sword and his Hylian Shield, and although he still had a few Deku Nuts and other odds and ends, he knew he would need proper weapons—temporary ones, at least—if he wanted to stand any chance of surviving his return.

And then there was the issue of actually getting back. Neither Tarin nor Marin—nor any of the other villagers—seemed to know anything about how to get back to his world. The Wind Fish had been his way out last time, but it hadn't been seen since the day Link freed it from the giant pink-spotted egg at the top of Mount Tamaranch in Tal Tal Heights.

So Link set about solving the problems he currently could. He collected sea shells, Rupees hidden under rocks and shrubs (and inside pots, of course), and other trinkets until he was able to barter for a simple wooden shield and a basic iron sword.

One day he tried to practice fighting a pair of wild Goomba-like creatures in the wastelands past the edge of town. But as he made to swing, he cried out as his back erupted in burning pain once again. He just barely managed to stun the Goombas with a Deku Nut and hobble away, back to Marin's cottage where she scolded and treated him.

 _It's no use,_ he thought that night while lying in bed. _If I can't heal these injuries completely, I might never be strong enough to go back._ He then remembered what Tarin had mentioned that first day of consciousness, and knew what he had to do: He had to find the Great Fairy Fountain.

But where was it?

Then, his mind was flooded with images of Marin, with the beautiful sounds of her harp and her angelic voice, her childlike laugh, and her longing for him to stay. He thought of Tarin's fatherly care and the good people of Koholint, and of the thousands of hidden corners that could be turned into potential adventures. And, for the first time, he began to waver.

Would it really be so bad to stay here?

What if Nintendo and the Smash Universe were already lost? What if it was too late to make any difference, and by going back he would just be consigning himself to a miserable defeat? He mentally replayed Sora's discussion with the Smash Brothers in the Saffron Pokémon Gym.

 _"You have no idea what you're up against. This isn't the kind of enemy you can beat with armies or brute strength or magic."_

 _Mario raised an eyebrow. "Then how_ do _we beat a-him?"_

 _Sora paused for a long moment._

 _"You don't."_

Maybe Xehanort's invasion was an inevitability. Maybe there was no stopping the Smash Universe's judgment, like the old man had said. Maybe L.O.G. was right, and they were all just characters in some artificial video game universe, having their every move dictated for them by some unknown arbiter.

And if that was the case, then the best thing he could do would be to stay here, where his world's memories would live on at least in his mind, even if everything else was gone.

* * *

"Hey; Listen!"

Link jolted awake and almost caused himself a fresh batch of agony as he sat up. He blinked in the darkness, but saw nothing. He must have been hearing things.

"Link!"

Then a bright, familiar blue light glowed from the window behind him, shining into the room. He turned and, sure enough, there she was: Navi.

"Is _this_ a dream, then?" he said, more to himself than to the fairy hovering by the window. The boundary between fantasy and reality seemed very ill-defined these days. But he knew Navi couldn't really be here; his younger self had watched the warlock Gharnef kill her in the catacombs beneath the Akaneian stronghold.

Navi just sighed. The personality of this dream Fairy, at least, was en pointe. "Just follow me already."

Link would have asked Navi for proof she was actually there, but he knew if this was either a dream or a ghost version of her, she would not be able to provide any such substantive evidence. So he got out of bed, quietly opened the door to the cottage so as not to wake Marin or Tarin, and closed it softly behind him and followed Navi northward.

She led him straight through Mabe Village, abstaining from answering any of his questions, floating silently and purposefully onward. Soon enough, they reached the edge of the village that divided it from the dark, foreboding canopy of the Mysterious Forest. Link hesitated as Navi flew straight into the trees.

She peeked back out with impatience. "Well?" her high-pitched voice echoed. "What are you waiting for? Do you wanna find the Fairy Fountain or not?"

That was enough to draw him into the woods, for better or for worse. It was extremely dark, with Navi's soft glow illuminating only a small patch of forest ahead, so he did his best to stay as close to her as possible.

He could hear howling and snarling and crawling and clicking and rustling, but he tried to ignore it all, trusting his fate to this dream Navi, or whatever she was. After some time, the sky flashed through the treetops, and a crack of thunder signaled the ensuing downpour of rain, which soon had Link soaked to his skin.

He didn't know how long they went on this way, but it seemed like hours and hours before at last they came to a sheer cliff face with a narrow grotto hidden behind a tall shrub.

Navi stopped and turned to him.

"This is where we say goodbye, Link," she said. "Sorry I can't be of more help—being dead and all."

"Navi—"

But she had already vanished, like a spark extinguished in midair.

Now everything was almost completely black again. He felt his way to the giant fern, the maidenhair leaves caressing his hands with a soothing moisture. He found the rocky cliff face behind it, then crouched and crawled blindly into the grotto, hoping he hadn't just been led into a trap.

The journey through the low cave was thankfully much shorter than the one through the forest. As he went on, the steady rush of the rain faded in favor of the calm dripping of water from the ceiling. He pressed on for just five minutes or so until it led into a magnificent open cavern.

The glittering azure pool was lit by the scores of Fairies hovering haphazardly across its surface, giving the entire cave a soft pink glow. As Link stepped inside, he recalled the almost sacred feeling he'd had during his other encounters with Great Fairy Fountains.

As soon as he reached the edge of the pool, Fairies beelined toward him and began swirling around him from head to foot, pouring their healing magic into every living cell of his body. Link couldn't help but laugh as his full strength was restored; if he'd had the Master Sword on hand, he could have pointed it at those Goombas and stricken them from a distance with a beam of white energy. Neither his back nor any other part of his body felt any more pain, and furthermore, his mind was crystal clear, elevated and sanctified by these holy beings. He felt like he could take on the whole world.

And then, once there was not so much as a mosquito bite left for the Fairies to heal, they left him and returned to their doleful hovering over the pool. Link expected the much larger, typically gorgeous Great Fairy herself to appear next and grant him her blessing along with some kind of useful magical gift.

But that wasn't what happened.

Instead, the pool began rippling from the center, and all the Fairies scattered as an immense white figure emerged from the pool, splashing Link with a wall-like wave that would have bothered him if he hadn't already been drenched. His mouth dropped open and he drew his sword as he recognized the floating figure before him.

Master Hand.

 _"Stay your hand, Hero,"_ he echoed powerfully. It was the same deep voice of the Master Hand Link had known, and yet…somehow different. Staticky. Without malice.

Despite himself, Link felt oddly at peace in this apparition's presence, and accordingly he sheathed his sword and awaited whatever was to come.

 _"You mean to abandon your quest."_ Master Hand's fingers were ever curling in and out. _"But you must not, for you are the only hope Nintendo has left."_

Link felt a shiver run up his spine. "What do you mean?"

 _"Every last soul in the Smash Universe has been darkened by Master Xehanort, save for the Vassals of his Organization XIII—and you. You have been spared for a reason: to bring about This World's salvation."_

"Spared?" Link tried to recall the circumstances of his survival. "You mean by Ganondorf?"

 _"No…by the Hand of Fate."_

Link wasn't sure what to say to that. "Why do you care, then? Are you a ghost like Navi was? And you were always our world's enemy; why do you want me to save it now?"

 _"I am not the Master Hand you knew; I am not Nightmare. Who I truly am is unknowable to you…but you must believe that I_ am _an ally."_

"Okay." Link was, understandably, having difficulty processing this strange new development. "So how do I do it? How can I save the Smash Universe from an evil that can't be beaten?"

 _"Go to the Wind Fish's egg,"_ Master Hand said. _"You will find your way off Koholint Island there. Then, seek out the Twelve; purify their hearts; find the Kingdom Key; liberate the worlds from the thirteen Vassals. Only then will your hearts be strong enough to face Xehanort. Do not dress as you normally would; rather, disguise yourself as a commoner, for should Xehanort discover you are alive, he would exert every particle of power to ensure your speedy demise. And whatever you do…whatever happens…do not lose heart."_

Link felt like he should be writing all this down, but he had no means to do so. "Could you go over all that again?"

But as was occurring increasingly often, his visitor vanished without further comment, sinking back into the pool, which was soon as smooth and glassy as it had been before.

* * *

The next morning, Link sat with Tarin and Marin and related to them all he had experienced the night before.

"Must've been some experience, my boy," Tarin said. "So when do you plan on taking off?"

"Today."

Marin looked crestfallen, and Link's heart almost broke. But he knew it was the right thing to do. He took Marin's hands.

"I wish I could stay longer, but I have no choice. Every minute I delay could be much longer in my world. I need to stock up on some supplies in the village before I go. Will you come with me…and then, would you play me one last song?"

Marin nodded and tried to smile.

He gathered as much food as he could carry, which was a couple weeks' worth. He bought a few bombs and other small weapons. He dressed in a simple tan peasant's outfit with a white headband tied around his head to conceal his pointed Hylian ears. And finally, he was set to go, waving back to the inhabitants of Mabe Village from the northern ledge, with only Tarin and Marin left to bid farewell to.

Tarin came forward with a goldenrod pouch in his rough hands and presented it to Link.

"This is the Roc's Feather, my boy," he explained. "It'll help you get around if all those portals you're used to traveling through aren't safe anymore. Use it well. And be safe!" He squeezed Link in a strong bear hug and then stepped back, already munching on his mushrooms once again.

Marin approached him, her usual cheerful spirit dampened. She presented Link with a blue-speckled conch shell.

"If you ever feel alone, you can listen to the ocean through this and think of me."

Then she pulled out her harp, and she sang and played the Ballad of the Wind Fish, her light voice and graceful plucking working together in perfect harmony.

 _On your shore, in the eve, below the moonlight_

 _Every dream I have wished for in sight_

 _What lies beyond it?_

 _Where will I be and what will I find?_

 _Here, under the clouds,_

 _I fear I'm dreaming…_

 _There's a light shining bright, behind a mountain_

 _Dare I fly as the gulls toward that sun?_

 _I'll sleep forever_

 _The dreamer need not open his eyes_

 _Yet still, where is my star?_

 _Dare I ask—who am I?_

 _I've a home far away I dread to think on_

 _But it burns like a flame in my heart!_

 _The waves are churning_

 _A voice is calling me to the sea_

 _Her words, they are the sun_

 _In my heart_

 _Who's singing?_

Link had never heard it with lyrics, and he was entranced by the sad, haunting melody like never before. Only, this time, he recognized an emotion in the song he hadn't before: Hope.

Too quickly, it was over, and Marin was crying in Link's arms, clearly begging him to stay with everything but her voice. Link held her for several minutes, and then they parted.

"Will we see each other again?" Marin asked.

Link smiled. "In our dreams."

He then turned and started up the path, and did not look back.

* * *

His trek up through the Koholint Prairie was uneventful—peaceful, even. He tried to treasure the scenic slopes and grasslands and birch trees, the bluebirds and bees and strangely diurnal owls gracing the sky. He tried to preserve these images in his long-term memory like the pictographs he'd taken in the Great Sea, for he knew not whether he would ever physically return.

After an hour or so, he crossed over into the Tabahl Wastelands, which were gray and desolate and filled with spooky barren trees with what he could swear were wicked, face-shaped holes and crinkles—not at all like the benign expression of the Great Deku Tree.

He encountered several of the Goomba-like enemies and hostile crows and even a small Stalfos, but his newly invigorated body was more than up to the challenge, and he easily bested them even with his cheap sword and shield. Still, the air was dry and an ominous wind blew through the naked boughs as he proceeded further north.

The Tal Tal Heights marked a steep ascent toward the towering Mount Tamaranch, with lots of sheer cliffs and rickety suspended bridges and deep gaps that threatened to cause Link harm if he wasn't careful. But by now, his memory of Koholint Island was more complete than ever, and he found himself navigating narrow ledges and reflecting the rocks spat by Octoroks and slicing legs off of spidery Tektites with what approached muscle memory.

By now he was definitely sweating and his calves burning from the arduous climb, so he found a small cavity in the cliff face and took a brief rest for lunch (which consisted of fish, milk, and mushrooms).

As he ate, he wondered what Master Hand had meant by finding "The Twelve." Then he remembered how during the War of the Hands, he and the other Smash Tournament participants had been referred to as the "Original 25." "The Twelve," then, must refer to the original twelve Smashers who had been invited to Master Hand's first tournament. It made a sort of poetic sense that in order to defeat Xehanort, he would have to seek out the original Smash Brothers.

Soon enough, he felt ready to press on. He climbed through a short tunnel that would bring him up another level, but suddenly found his way barred by a tubular Like-Like, which had dropped from the ceiling.

Reacting instinctively, he pulled out his bow and destroyed the slug-like devourer with three Fire Arrows. Efficient and effective. Once he came out on the next level, he continued up three more layers without incident—until he came to a large suspended bridge which connected directly to the long staircase leading up to the shattered egg atop Mount Tamaranch.

Link approached the bridge cautiously, knowing it couldn't be as easy as it looked. And sure enough, a trio of Moblins jumped out from behind a boulder on the other side and began making their way toward him with clubs and blades raised, hollering with porcine snorts.

He knew there was no way he'd be able to fight his way through them on the bridge, and if he waited for them to come, they would surely corner him and knock him off the cliff just a few steps behind him. That left one option: He swept his sword across the posts holding the bridge up, severing the ropes and planks and dropping the squealing Moblins far below.

Now the problem of crossing the gap. Without his Hookshot, he would need to be creative. Link surveyed the ledge on his side and spotted a wandering Cucco. With practiced reflexes, he grabbed the fowl (whose eyes popped with alarm), backed up, got a running start, and leapt off the ledge.

The Cucco flapped its wings frantically, acting as a sort of parachute as Link floated across the gap. Then he felt his heart clench as an Octorok bounced from behind another boulder and spat a rock which wouldn't hit Link, but would most certainly hit the bird holding him up.

Link had to act fast. Before the projectile could knock both him and the bird out of the sky, he let go of the Cucco and drew Tarin's Roc's Feather and squeezed it and closed his eyes, hoping he hadn't just made a fatal mistake.

Sure enough, he was now hovering over the gap, the Cucco having narrowly dodged the rock herself. The Octorok, seeing its attack had failed, bounced up and fired another rock, but now Link had his hands free, and he swiftly deflected it with his shield, striking the Octorok in turn and thereby destroying it.

He floated over the rest of the gap and finally landed on the other side and let out a deep breath. He'd made it.

Link ascended the stairs steadily, stopping every couple minutes not just to regain his breath, but also to admire the view which included all of Koholint Island, a picturesque, postcard-worthy panorama laid out below him.

At long last, he reached the top, with the giant empty eggshell before him, its shattered top open to the sky. He turned and looked down at Mabe Village one last time, promising to himself—and to Marin—to never forget their kindness and their support which had made his recovery possible.

The eggshell was as empty as empty could be. Once it had contained a terrible Nightmare, a beast which had tormented the slumbering Wind Fish, but thankfully no such monsters awaited him this time.

He paused for a long while, expecting something to happen, but nothing occurred. For a brief moment, he began to consider the horrific possibility that his visit with Master Hand had been imaginary and he'd come all this way for nothing. Then he remembered what he had done here the first time, and he pulled out a small instrument that just might do the trick: the Ocarina of Time, which had returned to his possession following his and Zelda's merging with their other selves.

He mimicked the Ballad of the Wind Fish to the best of his ability—and found, to his surprise, that it came out perfectly. It seemed to join Koholint with the Hyrule he'd known as the Hero of Time in a way that couldn't otherwise be expressed.

A great boom sounded as the clouds cleared to reveal an enormous figure, which descended until it was level with Link.

The Wind Fish.

The creature had the strange appearance of a full-sized Blue Whale with giant white angel wings and intricate multicolored starburst designs running along its back. It pounded its wings and fins mightily as one of its ancient, Goron-sized eyes made contact with Link's.

It conveyed a simple nonverbal message:

 _Climb on._

Link obliged, clinging onto the rough, rubbery skin and pulling himself up one arm at a time until he was comfortably balanced on its back.

And without a word, the Wind Fish took him up into the clouds and bore him away. Link noticed a single seagull circling below near the mountain peak, cooing serenely.

 _Marin._

And as the Wind Fish rushed forward, the wind beating relentlessly against Link's face, his vision was filled with nothing but whiteness—not the blackness which had brought him here after his fall; but whiteness, which surely indicated his ascent. Back to Zelda. Back to the Smash Brothers. Back to the Nintendo World.

* * *

*These lyrics for _Ballad of the Wind Fish_ were written by Rebecca E. Tripp as part of her "Link's Awakening Epic Orchestral Medley." She has arranged a lot of beautiful Zelda music on Youtube.


	10. Chapter 8: Yoshi's Story

" _In order for us to triumph, we must cast aside our meaningless trophies. We must set aside petty power struggles. We must subdue our pride and vanity. We must purge ourselves."_

 _ **~Meta Knight**_

* * *

Chapter 8: Yoshi's Story

* * *

 **? ? ? ? ? ?**

* * *

 ** _O_** cean waves pushed Link toward the shore as he awoke, clinging onto a piece of driftwood.

 _Really?_ he thought. _Driftwood again? Why couldn't he have just dropped me off on land?_

He raised his head just in time to behold the silhouette of the Wind Fish disappearing once again into the clouds. And then it was gone. He was alone.

He didn't have to wait long, though, before his feet met solid ground under the chilly water. He waded across the sandy seabed until it became strangely flat and smooth, and as he shielded his eyes against the bright sun, he realized exactly what that surface was.

The shore—and the foreseeable land stretching to the horizon—was composed of a peculiar, flashing purple material. It was mostly flat, with gently rolling slopes here and there. And there was only one place in the Nintendo World that looked anything like it.

The Battlefields.

 _Why would the Wind Fish bring me here?_ Link wondered as he strained water from the light cloth of his pant legs, grateful that most of his upper body, at least, had managed to stay dry. He didn't have any extra outfits, so he would just have to let the rest air out. Then it occurred to him. _Because the rest of the Nintendo World is too dangerous. The only safe place is where there are no darkened hearts—where there are no hearts at all._

He began walking inland, recalling his last journey across the Battlefields when he and a few other Smashers had escaped from Master Hand's Fortress. He dreaded the long, dull journey ahead of him.

But as if in answer to Link's dread, during his next several steps his entire surroundings faded away, transitioning to an entirely new environment—although it was one that Link was all too familiar with and none too pleased to see again. Giant tabletop; colossal walls and shelves; even the mouse hole through which he had escaped the first time.

Master Hand's Room.

It was no longer the organized place it had once been. Since the War of the Hands, the messy aftermath on the Battlefields had been cleaned up, but the Room had been abandoned, left behind as a grim reminder that no one wanted to have, and thus it had never been revisited since.

Link couldn't help but feel uneasy as he took in the wreckage from his position atop the table: the giant television screen, shattered from when Mother Brain had fired its lasers from inside; the various video game consoles, scorched or blown apart from various misfired energy shots of Space Pirates and Smash Brothers alike; and finally, the heaped ruins of Master Hand's Fortress, which had collapsed as a result of the Cloaked Nightmare's final attempt to squash the few remaining Smash Brothers who had stood against him. The entire Room, in fact, had been consumed in violet flames and battered by the vicious winds of Nightmare's tornado-like body, and the virtual lack of any untarnished surface stood as evidence of that fateful encounter.

Link placed one of Master Hand's golden trophy stands on a pile of rubble and sat down. What was he supposed to do now? Just walk all the way to the Great Fourside City? That would take a week and would deplete most of his supplies. Surely there was a better way.

The Hero of the Winds within him perked up. What if he still had…

He reached into his inexplicably bottomless and weightless supplies and searched for the desired object, but after a full minute of rooting around, no luck. There would be no Wind Waker to teleport him to Hyrule this time.

But perhaps he could find one of Gadd's portals. On second thought, though, Link decided it was highly unlikely the professor would have installed one all the way out here (there was no reason for anyone to return). And even if he had, Link remembered Master Hand had warned him that those portals might not be safe in Xehanort's World of Heartless. So that option was off the table as well.

Off the table…

He turned again to the mouse hole and concluded he had no other choice. He would have to travel the slow way and make the best of it.

Fortunately, Link did find a tool from the Great Sea besides the Wind Waker: his grappling hook. He went over to the far corner of the table nearest the mouse hole, wedged the grappling hook around a particularly large and stable-looking piece of rubble, tugged the rope to make sure it would hold, and without further ado, stepped backwards off the edge.

Holding the rope tightly, he slowly climbed down the table leg, grateful his grappling hook was long enough to reach almost the entire hundred feet separating the tabletop from the floor. The effort of his descent put a lot of strain on his arms, but the Great Fairy Fountain's energy boost was still strong enough to give him ample ability to endure it all.

Finding himself at the end of the line, he let his feet drop off the table leg, then let go of the rope, falling the last ten feet and landing with his usual inexplicable grace (that business of being thrown down the well didn't count; not even a cat can land on its feet after having its back broken).

Link looked up at the dangling rope and sighed; he would have to leave his grappling hook here. But it had served him well. He turned and began making his way toward the cavernous mouse hole.

As he neared the sudden darkness, he couldn't help but recall Princess Zelda using Farore's Wind to teleport him, Falco, and Nana to this very spot. Hopefully, this time his trek through the Battlefields wouldn't involve Duplighosts, Shadow Queens, crazy Shy Guys, or that devilish lamp monster.

And with that last thought, he stepped through.

* * *

"Agh!"

Link jumped backward to avoid being run over by a semi-truck—which was only scary until following close behind, an angry red Wiggler the size of a locomotive barreled its way down the street, causing a panic as other vehicles swerved out of its way.

He had backed up into a dark, narrow alleyway, complete with rusting dumpsters, heaped trash bags, and loose refuse. He almost had to plug his nose from the rancid smell. A shaggy human with a cardboard sign asking for spare Coins stared at him in shock, then narrowed his eyes and scurried away into the shadows of the alley.

Fourside City, at first glance, did not look all that different from how Link remembered it. Peering out into the streets, he gathered from the overcast sky and the puddled sewage drains and the wet cement surfaces that it had recently been raining. It was such a huge megalopolis, however, that even from observing the tall business buildings around him, he couldn't tell which district he was in. The generic glass skyscrapers; the unfamiliar hole-in-the-wall restaurants; the mostly human traffic and pedestrians speckled with Koopas and Kremlings and other Nintendonian races; none of it gave him any clues, other than that he probably wasn't in some far-off apocalyptic future.

Link worried as he first stepped out onto the sidewalk that he would instantly be recognized, but to his relief, the men and women in their business suits and skirts and street clothes paid him little heed as they went about their daily business, although he did get a strange look from a Goron that happened to be passing by.

One thing Link noticed as he wandered through the streets of Fourside was that there were actually much fewer non-humans than there had once been. Other than the Wiggler that he'd had an uncomfortably close encounter with, only a handful of clearly interregional vehicles frequented the roads, whether they be Mushroom-shaped karts or F-Zero racers or Dreamlandian Air Riders.

And he soon realized that although the people were not in a state of violent, self-destructive chaos, there was an overall pall of gloom. None of the pedestrians greeted or spoke amiably to one another; the backed-up traffic was filled with raucous car horns and heated road raging; and there were no children outside—of any species—as far as he could tell. No, it was not as dramatically dark as Agahnim's Dark World or as surreal as Zant's Twilight Realm, but Link could definitely sense something off about the Nintendo he had known and loved.

He considered asking someone the date, but decided against it, worried that it would draw undue attention to himself. He'd thought his dusty golden locks and distinct Hylian face would have made him easily recognizable, but apparently the green Kokiri garbs and the Master Sword and Hylian Shield (not to mention the pointed ears, which were still concealed by his headband) played an even bigger part in his public image than he'd thought. So while he remained inconspicuous, he wanted to keep it that way as long as he possibly could.

After at least an hour of rather aimless wandering, he finally reached a T intersection with a very familiar set of buildings: to his immediate left, the Pianta Parlor casino, with its giant neon pink Pianta waving beneath a swirly neon sun; directly in front of him, the shuttle station from which he'd once embarked on his way to the Grande Snifit Hotel and the Fourside Colosseum; down the left side of the T, the towering dome and spires of the Smash Hall of Fame; and down the right side, the massive Fourside Department Store with the glass spiral skyway that connected its two halves on either side of the street. Again, everything looked more or less the same, except for the uncharacteristically negative demeanor of everyone around him.

Link stopped at the corner and thought. His first instinct was to go to the department store and buy as much equipment as his 5,000 Rupees would allow. But he worried that using such currency would give away his identity even with his pointed ears hidden, so he decided against it, at least for now. The Hall of Fame was of no interest to him, but the shuttle station definitely was. As he was to begin his search for the twelve original Smashers, Link had no way of knowing whether Ness would be here in Fourside or away in Onett, but he felt more confident that he would find Donkey Kong in the Kongo Jungle. So he would go down south, cross the Unclaimed Territory, and seek out the Kong in his family treehouse.

But in order to board that shuttle, he needed to get ahold of the more common currency of the realm, which throughout most of Fourside seemed to be either Coins or dollars. And if there was any place that would have an all-inclusive money exchange machine…

Link approached the Pianta Parlor casino, hesitated briefly at the entrance, and pulled the brass door open and went inside.

He almost immediately regretted his decision. If he'd thought the casino had been rowdy before, now it was a downright madhouse. Patrons were angrily banging uncooperative slot machines; engaging in fistfights across craps tables; hollering and laughing and screaming at each other in intense poker games. The security Piantas had their hands more than full just trying to keep greedy individuals from snatching loose Coins and barging out the doors with stolen winnings. The regular buzzing and beeping and jingling of the machines were all but drowned out by the avaricious ruckus.

The Hylian hero carefully began to creep around the edge of the glitzy establishment, looking out for exchange machines. He ducked to avoid a flying Paratroopa bouncing off the wall and then back into the fray. He jumped as he accidentally stepped on a small cream-colored Mr. Saturn.

"Oops; sorry!"

The Mr. Saturn just glared at him, tried to bite into his leather boot, failed, and scuttled away.

Finally, he reached a tall, flashing machine with the large words "CASH EXCHANGE" arching across the top. He leaned over the backlit touch screen and scrolled through the options until he found it: "Rupees to Coins." Carefully, he began pouring into the funnel in order to convert what he planned on being half his Rupees to Coins.

Suddenly, a long, noodly arm reached around his head and snatched the bag out of his hands.

"Hey!"

Link turned to see Waluigi laughing maniacally as he made off with the rest of Link's money, Rupees spilling across the floor as he went. Link seriously considered going after him, sword blazing.

Then he saw a fat figure Ground Pound from a crystal chandelier above, flattening Waluigi like a pancake, farting like a Snorlax with indigestion, and taking the bag of Rupees for himself. But as Wario began waddling away, Waluigi dived from behind him and wrapped his arms around his brother's neck. And thus they began legitimately strangling each other over what amounted to less than 200 remaining Rupees.

 _Didn't think those two could get any greedier_ , Link thought. _And I was right; they could just get more violent._

Clearly, trying to recover the rest of his Rupees wasn't worth it at this point, so he shoved the converted Coins into his bag and quickly dashed out of the Pianta Parlor before anyone else could try to steal from him.

He gasped with relief as he burst through the doors and began walking toward the shuttle station. He'd known Xehanort had darkened every heart, but until he'd come to Fourside and gotten at least a glimpse of what that meant, it hadn't really registered just how alone, just how endangered he really was.

He waited for the crosswalk to flash the pedestrian sign and crossed, having to go out of his way to avoid being shoved by a giant orange-bellied Klump that didn't seem to care who happened to bounce off of him into traffic. Link passed through the sliding Plexiglas doors into the station, boarded the escalator, and came to the boarding platform. This time, he didn't want to go east to the colosseum, but as far south as it could take him. He was glad to find that one of the routes went all the way down to the border, and accordingly he bought a pass from the disgruntled woman in the ticket booth and waited.

After about fifteen minutes, it came: a sleek metal enclosure that resembled a giant silver Twinkie with round windows, riding along a smooth rail. He boarded, expecting at least a couple dozen others to join him—but no one followed. And there had been almost no one on board to begin with so that by the time he climbed on, it was just him and the black, two-dimensional operator.

Link froze as the doors slid shut behind him. It couldn't be…

But it was.

Mr. Game & Watch.

"Now de-par-ting; fi-nal sta-tion: Gadd-Ree-ka Labs and ci-ty out-skirts."

The Smasher didn't even glance behind him to see who had come aboard as he pushed a lever, causing the shuttle to boost forward and begin its 70-miles-per-hour journey.

Link was taken aback, confused both by G.W.'s disinterestedness and by the fact that Ulysses Reeka's name had been lumped together with Elvin Gadd's. Surely Reeka was soundly dead by this point, having met his demise first at the hands of a Polluted Piranha, then through a definitive process of melting, freezing, and shattering by Metal Mr. Game & Watch.

He decided to keep quiet rather than attempt to converse with the Smasher, unsure what had become of his friend's "darkened" heart. But unfortunately, after a minute or two, the conductor turned around and seemed to look him up and down, though with no sign of recognition.

"Your choice of rai-ment is ap-pal-ling," he said reproachfully. "Please put your-self in or-der as soon as you are a-ble, sir; ev-er-y-thing must have its pro-per place, and your la-zy ap-pear-ance is a dis-grace to the King's vas-sal-age, and to Xe-ha-nort's sal-vi-fic world or-der which has en-hanced or-ga-nized so-ci-e-ty these past three years."

Link said nothing, but his mind was abuzz. Who was the King? G.W. had referred to his "vassalage," so he must be one of Xehanort's Organization XIII. And…

 _Three years._

In the back of his mind, he knew it could have been much worse. But still, he was horrified to discover how long he'd been gone, and more than a little afraid to discover what else had become of Nintendo, of his home, of his princess during such an extended absence. It was as if he'd been snatched out of Time itself by the Hand of Fate, spent a few fleeting weeks on Koholint Island vacationing, and then been plopped right back in. He knew those weeks had been necessary for him to heal, but couldn't help feeling a creeping guilt that he alone had escaped the Heartless, and that he had missed so much. Could he really repair the damage done over three years? Ganondorf's seven-year reign had been terrible to be sure—but back then Link had returned strengthened by the Master Sword, by the Sages, and by the Triforce. Now, the Triforce of Courage on the back of his hand barely glowed at all; the Master Sword was broken, maybe irreparably; and everyone he'd once considered friends would likely turn against him if he asked for their help.

It was also then that Link really started to understand what the "darkened hearts" really meant. Whatever those Heartless had done to his friends, it had brought out the very worst qualities in each individual, and apparently their wills were bent to side with Xehanort. For the everyday citizen of Fourside, that meant dullness and irritability; for Wario and Waluigi, their already high level of greed had been complemented with an unscrupulous willingness to obtain their desires with violence; and for Mr. Game & Watch, his appreciation of order and neatness had been exacerbated in the extreme.

"Yes, of course," was all Link said.

But Mr. Game & Watch leaned forward slightly; although the round black face did not possess eyes, Link felt strongly that the Smasher was peering at him with suspicion.

"Do I know you from some-where, ci-ti-zen?"

Link quickly shook his head. "I don't think so."

"No-bo-dy takes the shut-tle to the bor-der these days; there is no point. What is your bus-i-ness out there?"

"Uh," Link said, "I'm taking a vacation."

Suddenly, G.W.'s black body flashed red, causing Link to jump back. The shuttle operator pulled out his Judgment Hammer and prepared to whack Link at a moment's notice.

"No one is al-lowed to leave their re-gion!" G.W. buzzed angrily. "It is im-pos-si-ble. Please show me your i-den-ti-fi-ca-tion."

Link thought fast. Obviously, he didn't have whatever I.D. people carried around these days, and he didn't think old letters or his fishing license would fool the pragmatic Smasher. There was only one thing for it.

G.W. collapsed, stunned, as the Deku Nut took him down with a loud snap. Link looked out the window and was grateful to find that the shuttle had nearly reached its destination, the scattered industrial outskirts stretching out until they became the yellow grass plains of the Unclaimed Territory. Smoke towers seemed to pollute the sky much more thickly than they used to. And the expansive complex of low black buildings was clearly Gadd-Reeka Labs, judging by the giant insignia of a simplified Gadd head with Reeka's diamond rims overlapping Gadd's swirling spectacles.

Link had to expend three more Deku Nuts to keep Game & Watch out of commission until the shuttle slowed as it approached a station that looked very similar to the last one. He had never operated a city shuttle before, but luckily all he had to do was pull the lever back up once it reached the station.

There was no one there to board, so there was also no one to witness Link step halfway out of the shuttle, shoot a pebble with his slingshot at the brake lever, and jump away just in time for it to take the stunned Game & Watch safely and irreversibly away—at least long enough so that by the time he or anyone else could return, Link would be long gone.

Link quickly left the station, though he didn't encounter a single person on his way out. And as he burst through the sliding glass doors and stepped out into the smoky, disgusting, nigh uninhabitable outskirts of Fourside, he quickly saw why. Only someone deeply committed to visiting Gadd-Reeka Labs would hazard such a journey.

Especially since apparently it was impossible for people to leave their region.

But how did that work? Game & Watch and a number of the Nintendonians inside Fourside certainly weren't natives themselves, and Link had crossed the border from the Battlefields to the middle of the city—albeit through an unpredictable mouse hole portal directly from Master Hand's Room. He could only hope that he would continue to have success as he left the city behind.

Link coughed frequently and his eyes watered as he walked through the lung-poisoning industrial fields; he was glad not to face any additional opposition, but that solitude came at a price, and before long he began to feel queasy and light-headed. The place seemed to bear close resemblance to what some of the Smash Brothers had described experiencing at Grunty Industries on the Isle o' Hags. By the time he finally passed the last smokestack and the dirt and cement became the tall yellow grass of the Unclaimed Territory and the sky above was anything but a sickly gray-brown (it was dusk, but with so much smog there had been no way of knowing), his lungs were practically begging for clean air, his eyes stinging as if they'd just soaked up a batch of vaporized Ghost Peppers.

He walked long enough for the last vestiges of Fourside's pollution to wear away, then found a tree stump and sat and treated his eyes with some of the eye drops he'd once gone all over Hyrule to concoct for Biggoron in exchange for a sword. Then he downed some soothing Great Fairy Spring Water (he'd managed to procure a couple bottles of it before he left Koholint) and ate several of Tarin's ripest mushrooms, enjoying a flavor feast of fried Hylian bass and fruit-filled scones from the Waffle Kingdom.

He pulled out the large fleece blanket Marin had given him (covered in seagulls, of course) and wrapped it around himself and lay on the ground, using his bag as a pillow. He watched the sun set and was overwhelmed with tiredness. Link hadn't even been back for a whole day, but he'd already made pretty decent progress, considering how long it had taken all of the Smashers to reach Master Hand's Room the first time. But coming back to find your home continent foreign and corrupt tended to wear one out, even without having had any significantly violent encounters. Yet.

Link put his trust in the Bottled Fairies in his bag to pound their glass and wake him up if anything went wrong. With the starless sky above him and a gentle breeze making him grateful for the blanket, he soon fell asleep.

* * *

Link slept all through the rest of that evening and night into midmorning the next day. He arose and stretched and rubbed his eyes and fixed himself breakfast (more mushrooms; they were too quick, convenient, and delicious to resist, and had he stayed on Koholint much longer, Link suspected he might have become as much of an addict as Tarin). And as he set off once again, he felt unusually optimistic. Today would be a good day; he couldn't explain how or why. It just would. Granted, this time he would have no shuttles to take him across the Unclaimed Territory into the Kongo Jungle, so the terrain would have plenty of time to sap that energy out of him.

It was times like these that he wished Epona were still alive, the noble horse always ready to bear him across long distances with speed and stamina and spirit. But she was dead, and his only modes of travel were his own two feet and a Roc's Feather that was only useful for crossing chasms.

Link reached the bottom of a shallow valley when the ground began to rumble beneath him. He stopped and looked around, but saw nothing. What was going on?

"Yeagh!"

He turned again to find a green Yoshi less than five feet away from him, staring at him with intelligence and urgency. This was definitely _the_ Yoshi, Mario's friend since infancy; no other of his kind possessed that degree of independence. Which, in this case, could be a problem.

Link drew his sword and pointed it at the newcomer, the ground rumbling even more violently and a slow roar beginning to crescendo from over the hillside.

"Stay back!" he said.

"I'm not like the rest, Link," Yoshi said in Link's own tongue. "Or…not anymore. But there's no time to explain; we have to go. Now!"

Yoshi was spared the need to elaborate by the line of colored figures coming up over the top of the hill in a wide line, stampeding toward them like a mob of sentient Skittles.

It was a herd of Yoshis.

But they did not look friendly—at all. In fact, as they surged forward in a dense cluster of hundreds, Link noticed a familiar black dust trailing above and behind them—the same dust that remained after a Heartless was destroyed.

Link just stood there as Yoshi inclined his head expectantly—toward his saddle.

"Just get on!"

There was no time to think or question or second guess. He just grabbed his bag and did it.

Suddenly Link was racing across the grasslands on the most unusual of steeds. Link remembered seeing Mario riding Yoshi on several occasions, but never in a million years would he have imagined a scenario in which he would be doing it himself.

As they came up the other side of the valley, Link couldn't help but glance behind at the stampede of uncharacteristically hostile Yoshis, which were fixed on him like a flock of vengeful Cuccos. They were slowly catching up despite Yoshi's light-footed pace; carrying Link on his back didn't exactly help Yoshi in outrunning his kin.

They fled across a wide plain, pushing through the tall grass and barely able to see ahead (actually, Yoshi couldn't see at all; but Link urged him to keep a steady course).

Soon enough, they began periodically breaking in and out of the tall grass into strange crop circle-like clearings. Had Link paid close attention, he would have recognized one of them to be in the shape of the Star Fox insignia. He did notice in passing an odd arch of stones that seemed quite out of place, having no idea that it was a secret portal which had once taken Bowser, Ganondorf, Captain Falcon, and the Kongs to Corneria.

But the haphazard gaps in the grass made it that much more frightening when Yoshis began bursting through into the same clearings as their quarry, drawing ever closer, as intent on their targets as heat-seeking missiles.

And then the eggs began popping around him like bombshells. Link and Yoshi yelled as the hurled projectiles exploded dangerously close to them; one good hit and they would be done for. But fortunately, Yoshi was quite prepared for a shootout on the run.

He began eating rocks as they went along, swallowing them and tossing the resultant eggs behind him with remarkable aim, cutting off any unfriendly eggs that had a chance of meeting their mark. Link didn't know how Yoshi was able to do it all simultaneously, but he contributed by blasting eggs apart with his bow and arrows.

Finally, the tall grass came to an end altogether, opening out on a green plain that sloped down for a mile or two before coming to a sudden end against the canopies of the Kongo Jungle.

If they could just make it into the trees…

Now the herd was closing in on them from either side, the ones directly behind them held off by arrow and egg, but the ones on the fringes gaining enough ground so that soon they were almost running equally apace with Link and Yoshi.

"Cover me!" Yoshi said as he pulled out a juicy watermelon and shoved it into his mouth, chewing it frantically. Link obliged, raising his shield to block incoming eggs as his partner filtered out the juice and rinds. And then Yoshi had his Matrix-worthy moment.

He hopped and turned around, spitting out a machine-gun-like spread shot of watermelon seeds, knocking down dozens of oppressing Yoshis which, instead of falling down, dissolved into black mist.

Once Yoshi had completed his circuit and continued his run, they were less than half a mile away from the jungle, which would at least give them someplace to hide and pick off the rest of the Heartless Yoshis. The pair made good ground after their watermelon assault, but the Heartless were relentless; this time, a shroud of black dust passed clear over Link's and Yoshi's heads and assembled in front of the tree line. They coagulated and formed more of the generic insectoid Heartless—a writhing black wall with hundreds of empty yellow eyes.

They were surrounded.

"Any…ideas?" Yoshi panted.

"One." Link pulled out his Roc's Feather, hoping this would work based on what he'd observed from Mario and Yoshi's teamwork in the past. "Open wide!" He reached around and stuck the bagged object into the dinosaur's mouth, which swallowed it without questioning the strange taste.

Yoshi hopped clear over the crowd of Heartless and Flutter-Jumped to delay his fall. Then, just as they were about to plummet to their demise, white wings sprouted from Yoshi's back, and Link yelled triumphantly as they flew on, crossing the border of the Kongo Jungle seconds later. He glanced back to see if the Heartless would follow, but they seemed unable or uninterested in entering the dense jungle.

They flew for at least another thirty minutes or so, if for no other reason than to put a safe distance between themselves and the Unclaimed Territory in case the Heartless changed their minds. Then, Yoshi's wings began to flicker (the Roc's Feather sustained them for a remarkably long time), and in the interest of not freefalling through the trees, he lowered them into the canopy until they landed on a reasonably large entanglement of branches and vines where they could rest.

The now wingless Yoshi sat and leaned against a thick tree trunk, breathing heavily. "That was close."

Link, who had not been the one sprinting the whole way but was still exhausted, lay his head back on an offshoot of thick green leaves, taking a long swig from a bottle of water. "You saved me back there."

"We saved each other."

"Yeah…" As he regained his breath, Link then had time and energy to think about the strange circumstances of their meeting. "What was that all about, anyway? And how are you not…"

"Heartless?" Yoshi said. "I'm still not totally sure about that myself. But here's what I know: For most of the last three years, I was as darkened as the rest of my island. We Yoshis are kind and peaceful, but the worst quality Xehanort brought out in us was our idleness. My people have been lazing about, barely making the effort to so much as find their own food. We know little of what's been going on with the mainland, but I remember feeling this unexplainable desire to obey Xehanort and accept my darker nature.

"I'd probably still be that way if I hadn't been carried off one day by some flying white thing—I think it was a Goonie, but I'm not sure since I was half asleep. So I woke up smelling the sweetness of the Super Happy Tree, which none of the Yoshis were allowed to visit anymore. But being so close, and so hungry, and so lazy, I just couldn't help but pick off one of the Heart Fruits and savor its juicy tartness.

"Next thing I knew, my head was cleared and I saw Xehanort's world of Heartless for what it is: a prison. And I didn't know why that fruit opened my heart, but I knew I had to give it to all my brothers and sisters and save them, too."

Yoshi was becoming more emotional as he went on. "But somehow, one of the Yoshis got word that I'd eaten from the Super Happy Tree, and soon word came back from the King that it must be destroyed."

"Who's the King? Is he one of Xehanort's Vassals?"

"I think so. He rules everything west of Akaneia and Kanto: Mute City; Fourside; the Battlefields; the Unclaimed Territory; part of the Icicle Mountains; and the Kongo. But I've never seen him; I've just heard some awful stories of what he's done to people who cross him."

Link nodded. "Sorry for interrupting; go on."

"No worries. Anyway, I couldn't stop all the Yoshis coming up the hill with torches and axes. So I grabbed as much fruit as I could and made a run for it, jumping into the ocean and heading for the Mushroom Kingdom where I hoped I'd be able to give the fruit to Mario and Luigi and Peach and the rest.

"Some of them went after me, but the second they tried to step off the island into the ocean, some kind of force field pushed them back. I don't know why the same didn't happen to me, but I kept swimming—until I got sucked into a whirlpool that turned out to be a portal to the Unclaimed Territory right next to where you were.

"Not long after, those Heartless Yoshis appeared, at first trying to convince me to come back. But I knew they weren't real Yoshis, so I ran for it…and then I found you."

Link just sat there for a minute, taking it all in. "I met Mr. Game & Watch in Fourside, and he told me no one was allowed to leave their region. I wonder…were we able to pass through because our hearts weren't darkened?"

"Seems like it," Yoshi said, yawning. "So what's your story, Link?"

Link told him everything that had happened at the wedding; his fall down the well; his time on Koholint Island; the mission given to him by Master Hand; everything down to his journey from Master Hand's Room and through Fourside City to where the two of them had met.

"Wow…" Yoshi's tired look was mingled with relief, but also sadness. He looked up at the afternoon sky. "How could this happen? How could we have let This World fall so easily, so quickly?"

Link paused and considered the question. "Xehanort's different from any other villain we've ever faced. He doesn't fight us with brute force and fear like Nightmare, or with deception and cleverness like L.O.G. He fights us with our own weaknesses. He doesn't even have to fight us at all because the darkness inside us defeats ourselves."

"I guess that's what Sora meant when he said Xehanort's an enemy that can't be beaten," Yoshi said.

They sat in silence for a while, appreciating a moment of respite and the natural noises of jungle wildlife—a brief peace like they hadn't known since the beginning of the day, which for each of them had been a day unlike any other.

"Are we safe here?" Link said finally, looking down through the tangled branches and vines, which were too dense for him to see the jungle floor.

"Probably not." Yoshi stood up. "The question is, what do we do now?"

Link stood as well. "We find the rest of the Twelve, like Master Hand said. We find Sora and the Kingdom Key and free the Smash Universe from the thirteen Vassals, and then we stop Xehanort once and for all, before our universe suffers the same fate as Disney."

Yoshi nodded. "Look at this." He showed Link his remaining supply of fruit: a few banana bunches; a couple honeydew melons; several bunches of grapes; a bushel of apples; one extra watermelon; and then three fist-sized Heart Fruit, each with a face smiling at them from its soft pink flesh. Eerily enough, the three pieces appeared to be beating with a regular rhythm as if they were alive.

"I saw some Yoshis sneak some of the other fruit as they burned down the Super Happy Tree, but none of them changed like I did. These three Heart Fruit…I think they're all we have that'll open others' hearts."

Link nodded. "Then we'll have to use them wisely. And I think I know the first person we need to find."

Yoshi looked down at the jungle as well. "Donkey Kong?"

"Donkey Kong."

* * *

For hours they trudged through the jungle, wary of any carnivorous snakes or mischievous Gnawties that might try and pounce on them. The air was thick and hot and humid, and Link couldn't help wishing for a river to bathe in, although he supposed any body of water found in a place like this would probably be filled with piranhas—or worse.

Occasionally, they struck up conversation, trying to make light of their dire situation. But the truth was, things had never been quite this bad. Even when Master and Crazy Hand or Tabuu or Wizpig or L.O.G. had appeared to have the upper hand, even when a few of their dear friends fell, there had always been a trust in the basic goodness of the Smash Brothers and all it stood for. But now, Xehanort was proving that none of those things had been real, or at least not completely; even the staunchest Smash Brother had a seed of darkness that the Heartless had exploited to the downfall of the entire universe. And as if that corruption weren't bad enough, based on Sora's report of what happened in Disney, it was only going to get worse.

Somehow, though, the two heroes managed not to lose heart. Link sustained himself on his memories of Hyrule; of Zelda; of Marin and Tarin back on Koholint, occasionally listening to the soothing ocean waves echoing from Marin's seashell. Yoshi did the same through the tremendous optimism afforded by just one piece of Heart Fruit, which had kept his hope alive ever since he'd been exiled from his own island, by his own tribe.

Apparently they made better ground than they'd realized, because before the sun had even begun to set, Link spotted the first signs of the Kong Family Treehouse stretching through the trees ahead. He drew his cheap sword.

"Stay quiet; we've got to trick DK into eating one of your Heart Fruit, but if any of the Kongs see us, it'll be that much harder."

They crept forward, sticking to the shadows and slowly slinking through bushes until they came to the ladder leading up to the treehouse. Link went up first, followed by Yoshi close behind him.

The ladder brought them up to a wooden platform as evenly spaced from Cranky's Cabin in the center as were the rest of the Kong houses, which were arranged around the perimeter in an octagon, the platform with the latter being the eighth point.

It was empty. Link and Yoshi cautiously began stepping across the boardwalk, wary of each of the doors which might open and unleash an unfriendly simian at any moment. With each step, Link was afraid the boards might creak and alert the Kongs to their presence.

They reached Cranky's Cabin without incident. Yoshi looked at Link as if to say, _Now what?_

Link considered the other cabins. They weren't all identical; in fact, the Kongs belonging to each cabin had their names conveniently scratched into the wood over each doorway: "DIDDY"; "DIXIE"; "LANKY"; "TINY"; "CHUNKY"; "KIDDY"; "DK."

 _Bingo._

"I've got an idea," Link said. "Let me see one of the Heart Fruit."

Yoshi handed him one of the fruit uncertainly.

Link drew his bow and arrow, speared the fruit on the tip of his arrow, notched it, pulled back, aimed, and released. The arrow swooshed right into DK's door, sticking out with juice dripped down the wood.

The noise was enough. Link and Yoshi quickly ducked behind Cranky's Cabin and watched as the door opened and Donkey Kong appeared, glaring out with large, dark pupils at the rest of the cabins. He looked somehow wild; animalic; as if the most savage part of his ape instincts was always on edge, looking for something (or someone) to rip apart.

He found the cause of the noise sticking out of his door and pulled it out, peering suspiciously at the dripping Heart Fruit. He inspected it closely, and for a moment Link's heart sank as he thought the Kong would just toss it off the boardwalk, wasting one of their precious trio of salvific fruits.

But the savory sweetness of its smell drew DK's hunger-driven nature berserk; in one powerful motion, he pulled the Heart Fruit off the arrow and shoved it into his mouth, his every taste bud stimulated by the perfect combination of sweet and tart. Then, after several seconds, his expression changed. His dilated pupils shrunk to their normal, intelligent size. His posture became more controlled and relaxed, and he looked around with great confusion.

"Wha?"

Link and Yoshi took that as their cue to come out from behind Cranky's Cabin and approach him. Thankfully, they were not greeted by a mauling monkey, but an old friend who was very glad to see them.

"Link! Yoshi!" DK brought them both into a wide bear hug, almost squeezing the life out of them. "What's going on? Ten seconds ago I felt like a slobbering monster, but now…well, now I'm not!"

"We'll explain everything," Yoshi said. "But first, we need to get out of here before—"

A chorus of shrill chimp, orangutan, and gorilla cries sounded from the other cabins as Tiny, Lanky, and Chunky had just come out to investigate the disturbance. They said nothing, but based on the way they were flailing their arms and beating their chests and pounding their fists on the ground, their eyes dilated to a beastly degree, the three heroes had a feeling the other Kongs weren't there to host a welcome party.

"Come—this way," DK grunted urgently, and he led them down the boardwalk leading to Diddy's abandoned cabin. Link and Yoshi obliged, harboring no desire to have their limbs dismembered and eaten.

They found another boardwalk that continued into the jungle and ran down it, not daring to take the time to look behind them, the growing noise of the monkey cries motivation enough to avoid even the smallest delay.

The boardwalk sloped upward and ended in a large platform just ten feet or so below the canopy, at the center of which sat the Funky Flyer—which looked like an airplane with a giant barrel for its body, having been repaired multiple times over the course of the past several years.

DK hopped right onto the carved segment on top and started it up as Link and Yoshi followed close behind, no questions asked. But the three crazed Kongs burst onto the platform a few seconds later, and the craft wasn't quite ready for takeoff.

Peanuts, feathers, and pineapples began shooting up at them, rocking the ship and threatening to knock them off some forty feet to the jungle floor below. Link and Yoshi counteracted with Deku Nuts and eggs, but the Kongs were too nimble in their primal state (even Chunky) to fall victim.

A bellowing Chunky ran straight at the Funky Flyer and pounded his fists on it, trying to break a hole and climb up and rip them apart. But Link set off a Bombchu which curved up and over the side of the ship and blasted the gorilla away; he hadn't thought of the damage it might do to the Flyer, but fortunately the giant "barrel" was in fact much stronger than wood and withstood the blow, though it almost caused Link and Yoshi to lose their footing and topple over.

After about thirty seconds of this perilous shootout, the Flyer finally achieved a loud, steady rumble. Its jet engines slowly lifted it off the platform, the three belligerent Kongs shooting their fruit weapons all the while, but the higher the Flyer rose, the less likely it was any of the projectiles would have any effect. They shrieked and clapped and banged their fists with animalic fury, as if their banana hoard had just been robbed.

Link, Yoshi, and DK all sighed with relief as they rose above the canopy and flew away over the treetops.

"So," DK said, taking the head and steering the Flyer. "Where are we headed?"

"Away from that." Yoshi's eyes widened as he pointed to the northwest, directing their attention to a large, glowing, emerald green object heading right toward them. Fast.

"Impossible…" DK still had almost no idea what was going on, but he knew one thing: King K. Rool was dead. He had been blasted apart by the Spartan Frigate's coil gun on the shores of Dreamland in front of hundreds of witnesses. So how could the crocodile's Klaptrap-shaped airship be heading toward them now?

"Whatever that is," Link said, "it's going to tear this ship apart like a clay pot."

DK swerved the Funky Flyer to the east, and they braced themselves for impact. But to their surprise, the roaring reptilian airship passed right by them—as if they weren't even there, instead heading directly toward the Kong Family Treehouse they had just left behind.

The three Smashers looked at each other.

"Why'd he ignore us?" Yoshi asked.

"I dunno," DK said slowly. "But I think…we just met the King."

* * *

 **Castle Oblivion**

* * *

Ganondorf inclined his head in a gesture of respect before the throne.

"You sent for me, Master Xehanort?"

"Yes."

The chamber was an almost blinding white, with pearly pillars and exquisite windows framed by multifaceted crystals that refracted the saturated light pouring in from outside. Along the walls were carvings of an insignia that looked like an upside-down heart with an arrow-pointed cross coming from the top—the symbol of the Nobodies. And at the top of the spaced alabaster steps, Xehanort sat on a simple yet elegant throne, his chin resting on his clasped hands with his usual unreadable expression.

"Lord Ganondorf…tell me the state of things in your kingdom, and in those of my other Vassals."

The Gerudo laughed softly. "All is well. The rest of the Organization are all content with their stewardships, and the inhabitants thereof are content to fall under them. As always, the Heartless make their compliance all too easy."

"Good…" Xehanort stood up and slowly began stepping down toward Ganondorf. "You will recall what I've told you of my dealings in the Disney Universe. There, I had but to seize Kingdom Hearts by forging the X-Blade and unlocking its power. However many failed attempts might have occurred along the way, it was a simple objective, one that poor Sora and his friends never had any real chance of preventing."

He stopped directly in front of his associate, his hands behind his back, his eyes burning. "However…I have found that every world and universe is unique; the rules of one do not necessarily apply to another. Here, for example, a different process is required to consummate the Smash Universe's destiny: corruption. Or rather, the exposition of the evil inside every Nintendonian, every Sonian and Microsian and other intelligent being; only then will their fate be justified. And only then will This World's Kingdom Hearts truly belong to me."

Ganondorf nodded, his own eyes two glowing coals of fiery passion. "All this you have told me."

"There are many unique aspects of This World," Xehanort went on. "One of the most troubling of which was the culture of crossing over between kingdoms that existed when I first arrived. That problem was fixed with the Heartless magic that confines every man, woman, child, and beast to their own region—or so it should be.

"You see, I have just received word from the King of the West: His informants tell him that there have begun to be… _aberrations_ from these rules. The dinosaur, Yoshi, partook of the fruit of a certain tree which somehow freed him from the Heartless—a hazardous source that was promptly eliminated, of course. A boy in Fourside attempted to leave the city by undermining Mr. Game  & Watch's carefully regulated shuttle operations. And Donkey Kong has made off in a flying vessel without his family's permission. What do you make of these incidents?"

"To me," Ganondorf said, "it sounds like the dinosaur stumbled upon a stroke of extraordinary luck in discovering such a loophole. This 'boy' from Fourside must have gotten carried away at a casino or something and been anxious to escape his debtors. And the Kong, who I have had close dealings with in the past, surely must have finally given in to his basest nature, placing his own survival over that of his own kin. That is what the Heartless were designed to accomplish, after all—to deprive those foolish enough to call themselves 'good' of all their virtues. When it comes down to it, I am sure none of these aberrations are more than the King can handle."

Xehanort listened with interest and smiled. "Well spoken, Lord Ganondorf. I have chosen my chief Vassal wisely; you know these heroes even better than I, and with the small spark of rebellion within your soul long gone, you have proven a worthy servant."

Ganondorf inclined his head again. "All made possible by your patronage, Master Xehanort."

"Nevertheless, I want you and the other Vassals to be on your guard for more of these aberrations. We could afford rebellion; we could afford even the entire Smash Brothers resurfacing and rising against us, as unlikely as that might be. We have many safeguards, many secrets, many impossibilities that they will never be able to pass through successfully. But what we cannot afford…is hope. Altruism will never be enough to defeat us, but it will delay the Smash Universe's judgment until the spell of the Heartless completes its work."

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow. "And if such hope should arise and delay their judgment indefinitely?"

"Oh…" Xehanort turned back and ascended the stairs to reseat himself on his throne. "It will not. Because eventually, judgment or no judgment, the End will come."


	11. Chapter 9: Divine Intervention

" _You think your Smash Brothers are innocent in this great conflict. Well, allow me to shed some light on the truth: Nintendo is as corrupt as the other worlds!"_

 _ **~Professor U. Reeka**_

* * *

Chapter 9: Divine Intervention

* * *

 **Kongo Jungle**

* * *

 ** _A_** s the Funky Flyer made its way through the night sky toward its next destination—the Krystal Koconut pub—the three Smashers were afforded some much-needed rest, and Donkey Kong was brought up to date on Link's and Yoshi's tales, and on their quest to open the hearts of the twelve original Smashers.

"Heart Fruit, huh?" DK swished saliva around his mouth, hoping to find some sweet vestige of the miracle-working morsel, which had tasted beyond delicious—divine, even. If the Kongs had any equivalent of a Heaven, even Golden Bananas would come short of Heart Fruit in its exalted storerooms. It didn't just taste good; it made him happy, as its name indicated. It gave him _hope_.

"So if you've only got two left, what're you gonna do once we run out?"

Link and Yoshi glanced at each other. "We'll have to find another way to open hearts," Yoshi said. "Until then, we should be really selective about who we give them to. Only other members of the Twelve, unless there's a really good exception."

"Our next best bet would be either Kirby in Dreamland or Red's Pokémon, Pikachu and Jigglypuff, in the Kanto Region," Link said. "But there are a couple problems. For one thing, Kirby might be in Dreamland, but he could also be anywhere else in space, whereas we're pretty sure to find the Pokémon in Kanto."

"But the original Pikachu who fought in the first Smash Tournament with us was killed by Metal Mr. Game & Watch," Yoshi said, "so would Pichu-evolved-Pikachu count as one of the Twelve? And if we found him and Jigglypuff, would we have to leave their Trainer, Red, behind, since I've only got two Heart Fruit left?"

"Either way," DK said, looking ahead, "our first concern is refueling the Flyer; we have less than half a tank left, and I don't know when we'll get another chance to find more past Funky's reserve at the Krystal Koconut. If what that weirdly helpful Master Hand said is true, Link, and the portals scattered all over Nintendo are no longer safe from Xehanort's lackeys, then we'll have to plan long-term. Speaking of which, we're almost there!"

And indeed, they saw not far ahead that the jungle thinned out for a considerable space, as if to make way for the isolated pub below. The Kongs didn't really know how to build with anything except jungle wood, and so the Krystal Koconut appeared more or less like a larger version of one of the Kongs' cabins. A bright, glittering title broadcasting the establishment's name did give it a special flair, the letters composed of what DK was fairly sure were fragments of actual Crystal Coconuts, their magical potential probably dormant and limited to advertising the place's existence beyond its already well-known reputation.

Link looked down at the Krystal Koconut uncertainly. "What exactly is the Funky Flyer fueled with?"

DK looked at him as if he'd just asked what color a banana was. "Crystal Coconuts, of course. Nothing weird like that hovercraft Professor Gadd used to fill with his ghost-blended gasoline."

Link decided to let that stand. "So we go down and grab Funky's coconuts while he's asleep."

DK then looked at him as if he'd asked _what_ a banana was. "Are you crazy? Have you never been to a bar? This'll be its busiest time. We'll hunker down in a cave I know nearby, then sneak over and swipe 'em in the bright of day. I'm usually lucky if I can get Funky and Candy to do something during daylight hours once a week; with the Heartless bringing out the worst in all of us, I'd be surprised if there's a single sober soul down there."

"You guys have strange ways of enjoying yourselves," Yoshi couldn't help commenting.

DK just shrugged.

They made sure to make a wide loop around the Krystal Koconut so as not to attract attention, then found an inconspicuous spot to land behind a cluster of boulders, which was near a raging river teeming with jumping piranhas and Klaptraps and water snakes—much to the disappointment of Link's unbathed body.

The cave was small, but well hidden, and warm and comfortable enough for the three of them to find mossy rocks to sleep on. Link placed a few bottled Fairies on rocky ledges to give them a little light, and they helped themselves to more of Yoshi's Super Happy Tree fruit before going to sleep, the rushing water outside providing white noise both for their ears and for their troubled minds.

* * *

They woke at first light, Link and Yoshi unaccustomed to the myriad jungle noises which penetrated even the walls of the cave. DK did a quick push-up routine; they each ate another piece of fruit (Yoshi was almost out by this point), and then they left their temporary shelter behind.

Leaving the Funky Flyer hidden as best they could among a thicket of tall shrubs, they walked over roots and under low-hanging vines for about ten minutes before reaching the clearing with the Krystal Koconut, peering through leaves and bushes at the apparently vacant building.

"Funky keeps his coconuts in a storage room around the back," DK whispered. "He and Candy have rooms in the basement, so unless we're incredibly unlucky—and believe me, coming across that weapon-wielding gorilla in a sour mood would be very, _very_ bad news—we should be good to haul a few crates out and be on our way without anyone being the wiser."

Without further delay, he quickly led them across the clearing and up to the front doors. The entrance was never locked because Funky assumed (correctly) that no one would dare attack him since he always slept with his pillow under his gun and, even without a firearm, could pulverize most any Kremling as effectively as DK or Chunky.

The only light inside came through the round porthole-like windows, shedding light upon dozens of tables and scores of chairs arranged across several different levels, all connected by a few stairs here and there. Vintage weapons hung on the wall: Boot Guns; Raisin Rifles; Banana Bazookas; as well as bandoliers and photos of Funky holding up the prizes of hunting and fishing expeditions with Kiddy and DK and Diddy and the Brothers Bear. A giant golden anchor hung from the ceiling, probably heavy enough to crash through the floor into the basement were it to fall. And, of course, along the right side were bar stools, counters, and glasses. The truly remarkable part of the whole thing, though, was that everything was clean. DK had to hand it to Candy's crew of cleaning ostriches; they could really do a quick, thorough job.

They passed through the eerily empty pub to a rusty iron door behind the bar that looked like it belonged on a steamship. DK pushed it open with a discomforting creak and entered the storage room. Dozens of crates and barrels—most of which were likely filled with strong drinks and bananas and such—were stacked across the dark room and up to the ceiling in many places. Dust saturated the air, making it rather difficult to breathe—but then again, this place wasn't exactly meant to serve as living quarters.

"Bingo." After they'd searched for a while, inspecting the faded black labels that were stamped on the stacks of crates and barrels, DK found what he was looking for: a corner of crates with the words "CRYSTAL COCONUTS" printed on them in fancy gothic lettering.

They weren't as heavy as Link or Yoshi expected, so each hero was able to load up several boxes—DK over his head, Yoshi on his back, and Link in his arms supplemented by the magic of his Power Gauntlets. And with what DK assured them would be weeks' worth of coconuts in tow, they made their way out of the storage room and toward the Krystal Koconut's exit.

And were faced with a huge silhouetted figure blocking their way out.

"No…" DK set his crates down with a grunt (Link and Yoshi did the same) and stared at the monstrous figure, taking in its great protruding belly, its reptilian toes and claws, its distinctly crocodilian head, and the trademark crown perched on top.

"Yes, Donkey Kong."

The source of the deep, electronic voice stepped forward into the natural light coming from one of the windows.

King K. Rool's body was now only about a quarter actual scaly flesh, and three-quarters chrome prosthetics. Only one of his limbs—his right arm—was still his own. But what was most disturbing was his face. His normal right eye glared at them from within its scarred green socket, which extended only to about half of his snout. But the rest was a robotic maw with silver steel teeth—and his larger, bloodshot left eye had been replaced with a bright red bulb, which glowed ominously in the empty building and seemed to scan them with a cold malevolence even worse than its organic predecessor. DK's nemesis was technically alive; and yet, the crocodile's motives had always been cruel, but mortal—whereas now he was more machine than beast, his previous personality consumed in programming. He wasn't even breathing, as far as DK could tell.

He was Cyber K. Rool.

"Admit it," Rool boomed. "You have missed the King Croc's schemes; the Kongs are incomplete without the Kremlings to oppose them. So in gathering up the few fragments of his body I was able to scavenge in Dreamland with my undercover R.A.W.s; in fusing them to this beautiful cyborg apparatus; and in uploading my consciousness to its computer so both he and I could live on; really, I have done you and your friends a favor."

DK was confused, but Yoshi quickly picked up on what was going on.

"You're not K. Rool," Yoshi said. "You're Professor U. Reeka. But you're dead; I saw Metal Mr. Game & Watch destroy you in Wizpig's Palace. How can you still be alive?"

"Oh, I'm not really alive, technically speaking," the cyborg admitted. "I am but a simulation—a shadow—of my living self. But that is beside the point; for with this new body begun by me and finished by my Heartless cousin, Elvin…I will be able to exact every bit of revenge as a simulation which I would have done were I still alive. I am now the King of the West, Smash Brothers…and as one of Master Xehanort's endowed Vassals, I shall end your pathetic attempt to undermine his new world!"

His metal claw folded in on itself and became an arm cannon. And began firing exploding oranges.

The three Smashers dove in different directions, narrowly avoiding the explosions which shattered shot glasses and splintered tables and chairs with each hit.

Yoshi encased himself in an egg, rolled up several of the spaced steps to the upper level, and propelled himself off the elevated edge, aiming to pound K. Rool's head with his own. But the robotic red eye was too quick; the head swiveled to face him, and from the eye shot a bright scarlet laser, searing Yoshi's underbelly and sending him into one of the walls.

Link took cover behind a tipped table, fitted a bomb to an arrowhead, lit the fuse, took aim with his bow, and fired. But before it could reach its target, a hatch opened in K. Rool's metal belly and projected a translucent green shield, which caused the bomb arrow to detonate harmlessly.

DK somersaulted behind the bar counter for cover. He paused at the end of the counter, took a deep breath, then flung himself around the corner, pushing off with his hands and launching his feet toward the croc cyborg's back.

But before he could reach it, hatches opened on the shoulder blades and fired two small missiles, which blasted the Kong at point-blank range, followed by a heavy lash from the crocodile's flexibly hinged steel tail. He crumpled against the wall by the entrance, barely able to raise himself up.

 _This isn't working,_ he thought. Then he noticed a broken crate, and he had an idea.

K. Rool was trying to blast Link out from his hiding spot. While he was distracted, DK crawled over to where several Crystal Coconuts lay scattered on the ground, their many glistening facets reminding him of the good old days, when life was simple: he and his fellow Kongs competing against King K. Rool for control of DK Isle. But everything had changed—even himself.

He crushed a few coconuts in his fists, feeling their magic flow into his body and turn him both invisible and invulnerable—temporarily.

While Link narrowly dodged a volley of missiles but took a hit from Cyber K. Rool's eye laser, which scorched his shoulder and forced him to retreat, DK came at K. Rool once more—this time from the front. Reeka's consciousness produced a deep laugh, the cyborg's infrared lens easily detecting DK's presence, but failing to identify the Kong's brief state of invincibility.

All of K. Rool's exploding oranges, lasers, and missiles deflected harmlessly off of DK as he wound up his arm, jumped, and landed his best punch directly to K. Rool's face, toppling the robotic reptile onto the ground. He turned to Yoshi as the coconuts' powers flickered and left him.

"Yoshi! The anchor!"

Yoshi followed DK's pointing finger and worked out the Kong's request. He nodded, lifted himself painfully off the wooden floor, and hopped onto the giant anchor's lower edge. He flicked out his tongue, wrapping it around the single chain holding it up, and pulled himself toward the ceiling, using the momentum to drive his tail into the point where the chain met the ceiling, thus severing its connection.

He quickly hopped back to the ground as the anchor, which surely weighed at least a ton, crashed onto Cyber K. Rool's chest, piercing straight through the metal body and causing sparks to fly and wires to crackle and shrapnel to shoot across the room. K. Rool attempted to move, but his computer system soon gave up.

DK strode over to his collapsed nemesis. The cyborg seemed to be dying, but the Kong noticed something strange: a small, flashing shadow just above the spot where the anchor had impaled him, shaped like a keyhole.

A deep, warbling laugh. "You foolish heroes; Xehanort granted all his Vassals immortality. If I do not kill you, one of the others will…" The last few words faded as if the machine were operating on AAA batteries which had just run out of juice, and as they faded, so did the light in the cyborg's giant red eye. But the keyhole kept flashing, as if the creature were just an appliance that needed to be recharged.

DK turned to Yoshi and Link, who had staggered over to him and witnessed the strange phenomenon also.

"Let's get out of here…before Funky comes up."

* * *

Within two hours, they had loaded the Funky Flyer with all the Crystal Coconuts they could carry and were in the air, making a tentative course toward the Kanto Region—albeit through a roundabout route which would take them back to the Unclaimed Territory before heading back east. The reason for this was that according to DK, the Funky Flyer wasn't designed to traverse cold, mountainous regions such as the Icicle Mountains, and he was afraid the frigid climate would cause it to shut down even with its Crystal Coconut fuel, especially with the battering it had taken from Tiny, Lanky, and Chunky back at the Kong Family Treehouse.

Thankfully, most of their morning and early afternoon journey proceeded without incident. But there was much to discuss in the meantime as they rested and planned ahead.

"That mark on K. Rool's chest…" Link couldn't get the image out of his mind. "I think I know what it means. I think…that's why we need Sora and his Kingdom Key: to finish off the Vassals by unlocking their hearts, and hopefully, the hearts of the territories they control."

"So that's why the Reeka simulation claimed to be immortal," Yoshi said. "We can beat him around all we want, but it won't mean anything unless we end it right."

DK, meanwhile, was ironically the only one whose mind had moved beyond Cyber K. Rool. "I wonder who the other Vassals are," he said. "If K. Rool owns most of the West…and Ganondorf's over Hyrule…then who'll be in charge of Kanto? Or Dreamland? Or the Mushroom Kingdom? Or the rest of Smash Planet and the Smash Universe?"

That gave Yoshi pause. "I actually don't think Bowser'll be in on this. He's changed a lot since the Smash Tournaments. Even King Dedede…he's a greedy coward, sure, but he wouldn't have it in him to doom his whole kingdom."

Finally, they reached the crossroads where the last of the Icicle Mountains blended into the Kongo Jungle on one side and the Unclaimed Territory on the other. At this point, however, both Link and Yoshi were fast asleep, while DK was at the helm, steering the Funky Flyer around the last of the mountains. Then he heard a faint voice coming from the peak.

"Woo-hoo!"

A speck dove through the air, spiraling down toward the Flyer's level, then boosting itself on its twin-barreled jetpack so that it passed right beside DK's vessel.

The Kong rubbed his eyes. K. Rool was one thing, but there was no way this was happening. And if it was…then was he a friend or an enemy?

"Diddy?"

The chimp grinned, tossed his hat in the air, did a backwards loop-de-loop, caught the hat on his head, and propelled himself back down to face his uncle.

"Hey, DK! Where d'ya think you're going?"

DK reached for his coconut gun uncertainly. Was this some kind of illusion or trap? But Diddy noticed his hesitancy.

"Don't worry; I'm not brainwashed—er…heartwashed—like the rest. Mostly because I'm dead. But I'm here to give you an important message: Don't go to Kanto yet."

"What?" DK shook his head, still in disbelief. "This can't be real. But even if it was, why shouldn't we go to Kanto? That's where we'll find two more of the Twelve. Where else would we go?"

Diddy chittered. "You see those clouds?"

DK turned to where Diddy was pointing and saw a great complex of fluffy golden clouds. "Yeah. What about them?"

"You've gotta go up through them. There, you'll find someone you need to finish this quest of yours. Trust me." He winked, twirling his Peanut Popguns in each hand.

"Uh…okay." DK began to redirect the Funky Flyer. "But…who sent you, Diddy? How do you know where we need to go?"

Diddy chittered again. "Let's just say the Hand of Fate has lots of ways of making things happen."

DK felt his heart pounding; he hadn't expected to have such an emotional upheaval so soon after his encounter with the quasi-resurrected K. Rool. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you. You and Dixie…you left our family with a big hole in it that can never be filled."

Diddy shook his head. "I was never meant to survive the Second Copyright Wars, DK. My death, my connections to several different worlds and to RareWare, helped cement the unity that you guys've enjoyed since…or at least, until three years ago." He smiled, sad and genuine. "As for the fam…I wouldn't worry too much about the things that seem messed up right now. In the End, the wrongs that've marred our existence for as long as we can remember will all be made right. You've just gotta do what you were made to do."

"Made right?" DK scratched his head and glanced again at the almost blindingly bright clouds. "What do you…"

But as he looked back, the spot where Diddy had just been was now empty air. At the same time, Link and Yoshi were waking up, yawning and stretching.

 _I'll do my best, Diddy,_ DK promised silently.

* * *

They flew up into the clouds, their vision completely obscured by the nebulous whiteness, the afternoon sun combining with the chilly breeze to produce a refreshing blend of both warm and cool. DK quickly explained what he'd seen, and to his surprise, neither Link nor Yoshi questioned his story. And so they flew on, and soon the clouds cleared to reveal Skyworld.

It was still as abandoned as it had been when Pit had visited it three years ago. But for DK, Yoshi, and Link, it was a much tenser silence than a sacred one. It was as if they were entering a minefield whose explosive clocks had been waiting all this time just for them to arrive.

DK steered them to the lowest part of the giant floating island and landed on a grassy ledge beside a courtyard filled with statues of Greek gods and goddesses; angel fountains; ridiculously extravagant flower arrangements; and twisting olive trees that gave the place an extra Classical flair.

They disembarked and began walking slowly through the garden, wary for any sign of activity—because if they weren't careful, that activity could very well mean their deaths.

Link almost wished some mythological monster would pop out. This ethereal silence was uncomfortably similar to his experience in the sunken Hyrule Castle as the Hero of the Winds, in which he had wandered through a castle of frozen, grayscale monsters that had suddenly come to life once he'd pulled the Master Sword from its pedestal. He felt much the same now as he beheld the stone Chimeras and Hydras and Pegasi—not to mention Medusa, who according to Pit's stories was capable of turning others into statues just by looking at them.

A familiar winged angel stepped out from behind a hedge sculpture of Hades—except now his Greek robes were a dark plum rather than white, and his expression lacked the buoyant friendliness it had once possessed, instead reflecting scathing disapproval and condescension. He notched an arrow and pointed his bow at the trio.

"No outsiders are allowed in Skyworld. Why are you here?"

"Pit…" Link didn't know what to say. So Yoshi jumped in for him.

"We've come bearing an offering to Lady Palutena," he said, raising one of his two remaining Heart Fruit.

Pit looked surprised, but still highly suspicious. "Why? Skyworld is the grandest of all of Nintendo's kingdoms; Lady Palutena hardly has time to trifle with ground-dwelling simpletons like you."

"This fruit is the sweetest and most savory of all of Smash Planet," DK said, and he wasn't lying. "Master Xehanort sent us to deliver this as a token of goodwill, that Palutena's favor—and that of her glorious angels—might smile upon us."

"Really?" Pit couldn't help but look flattered. "It's about time Nintendo paid Skyworld and its divine personages some proper respect. We must go to the temple, then, and if you are fortunate, Palutena may let you live."

That didn't sound too reassuring to Link, so he spoke up again. "Wait! We also have an extra offering just for you; wouldn't you like to try it for yourself so you can make sure it will be pleasing to Palutena?"

Pit eyed the second Heart Fruit which Yoshi had pulled out; it was clear his pride was his worst trait, and it had been appealed to magnificently.

"I'm no god, but I suppose as captain of the guard I must ensure Lady Palutena's offerings are not wasteful or envenomed. You have my thanks; perhaps I might convince her to let a favorable wind follow you home."

He took the fruit from Yoshi and bit into it with relish. A few seconds later, his heart was opened, and he looked just as confused as DK had been.

"What's going on?"

"You've just had your heart opened," Link said, walking up to Pit and putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "The fruit in your hand was the key. But now we need your help. We need to free the rest of our universe from Xehanort's Heartless."

"Help?" Then realization dawned on Pit. "Yes. That's what Quill told me three years ago." His conversation with his old mentor replayed in his head:

 _Though you are not one of the Twelve, it will be your duty to help them seek out the items necessary to save This World. Otherwise, the Smash Universe will be lost to darkness, as was the Disney Universe before it._

Link was hoping Pit would carry their conversation further. "So…what did Quill tell you to do exactly?"

"I, uh…" He paused. "I'm supposed to help you 'seek the items necessary to save This World.' Though honestly, I'm not entirely sure what that's supposed to mean."

"Items…" Yoshi looked down at his one remaining fruit, which he definitely didn't intend to waste on an altar at this point. "I think you're supposed to help us find more things like this Heart Fruit—things that can open people's hearts."

"Yeah…" Pit's mind was becoming clearer by the second. "Heart Softeners; I know how we can find others! There aren't many, but come with me and I'll show you where to go!"

The Smashers followed Pit up several flights of marble steps, which curved up perfect grassy slopes to the heart of Skyworld's abandoned city. They passed many marvels of Greek architecture: columns; arches; towers; statues; and many things none of the visitors could name. But they could certainly appreciate the exquisite craftsmanship, the detailed carvings of great mythological events, gods, demigods, and beasts.

They entered a long undercover walkway, passing dozens of aligned columns on each side until they came into an enclosed circular chamber, at the center of which was a large basin filled with a pristine midnight blue reflection pool.

Pit and the others gathered around it as the angel closed his eyes, uttered a Latin incantation he didn't know that he knew, and dropped a small stone into the center of the pool, sending ripples out from the middle.

"Whoa," DK said. He and Yoshi, who weren't as used to seeing magic at work as Link and Pit were, watched in wonder as the ripples rose and then subsided, forming borders and mountains; rivers and oceans; valleys and islands. Forming a map of the Nintendo World.

"I used to use this pool to watch the Smash Tournaments, until the Ancient Minister and Tabuu started doing their thing," Pit said. He pointed to a certain spot on the map. "This is Skyworld. The map should show us where we can find other Heart Softeners. They're really rare, though—so rare that even Xehanort wasn't aware of their existence—so hopefully there's one that isn't too far away…"

Sure enough, a moment later, two sparkling white dots appeared. A red dot indicated the Super Happy Tree on Yoshi's Island, which was now destroyed. Neither of the white marks, however, were on the mainland itself. One of them was near the southern border of Dreamland; the other was a good distance north of Mute City, on an island that was several times the distance of Yoshi's Island, Delfino Island, or the Waffle Kingdom from the larger continent.

"Those are both pretty far," DK said. "But I guess we'll be going to Dreamland first; that's much closer than the one all the way out in the northern ocean."

"Actually," Pit said, "it'll be much easier for you to get to that one. It's called the Orre Region—an island of Pokémon whose Pokémon Champion once came to help us in the War of the Hands."

The Smashers had vague memories of the seven-on-seven Pokémon battle that had taken place in the Battlefields. But none of them had been near that particular conflict; they had just heard about a couple heroes and villains from Orre who had come to join the fight.

"Okay," Link said. "So if it's faster, then how do we get there?"

Pit smiled conspiratorially. "Not all the portals in the Nintendo World are being watched by Xehanort; just the ones set up by Professor Gadd. I think you've had experience with a couple of them." He looked at DK.

DK nodded. "Bowser, Ganondorf, Falcon, the other Kongs and I were duped by Chet Rippo into passing through an arch in the Unclaimed Territory that took us to Corneria; then we flew through a weirdly shaped circle in the sky that took us to Onett."

"Exactly," Pit said. "And there's one just like that—only, the cloud's shaped like a Pokéball—that should take you right to—"

A great shudder nearly knocked them all off their feet. The walls and ceiling and surrounding columns cracked, debris falling all around them.

Pit looked horrified. "No…she's discovered you're here…we must go! Hurry!"

Without time for questions, they followed Pit back out of the room with the Reflection Pool, across the undercover walkway, and began racing down the steps toward the garden where the Funky Flyer was parked.

And then they saw her: the hovering figure of Lady Palutena herself—her eyes and her staff glowing with angry, rippling sapphire energy. She noticed them and lowered herself to confront Pit.

"How dare you bring these traitors to Skyworld!" Her voice rang like the musical (though grating) sound of a town bell.

Pit took a knee. He tried not to show how devastated he was that even his cherished deity, Palutena, had fallen victim to the Heartless' mind games. Quill had even warned him of this, even though Pit hadn't realized it at the time.

 _Never lose faith, Pit—even when those who you put your faith in fail you._

"Milady…you misunderstand. These travelers are going about Master Xehanort's business; they had come here to receive instruction on their next mission and to pay their devotions and offer oblations unto your Gracefulness."

 _"Lies!"_

From the tip of her staff, thick segments of blue light shot down toward the heroes. Link quickly jumped on Yoshi, and DK ran and Pit flew beside them as they closed the gap to the Funky Flyer. A particularly large beam shot directly toward the vessel; Pit cast himself above it and drew the Mirror Shield. It reflected the beam back at Palutena and struck her, eliciting a cry of outrage.

Still keeping himself aloft by beating his wings, Pit turned to the others who were prepping the Flyer below.

"The portal is due northeast of Skyworld; look for the cloud formation. Find the Heart Softeners and gather as many of them as you can so you will be able to free the rest of the Twelve. Take these…" He dropped a bag full of pebbles into Link's hands. "And use them to contact me whenever you need my help finding portals, or other Smashers, or Heart Softeners, or anything else."

"You're not coming with us?" Link asked as Pit swerved to deflect another beam.

Pit shook his head. "I can't leave Skyworld, just as no other intelligent being in the Nintendo World can leave their native region—except for the Twelve, or unless Xehanort grants you special permission. But I'll deal with Palutena here; she won't harm me, because I'm the only angel left to worship her. Now _go!_ "

The Funky Flyer lifted off the ground, and its engines propelled it forward, Pit flying beside them and deflecting Palutena's magic attacks all the while. He occasionally turned and fired an arrow back at her, but she easily teleported to the side to avoid them. She was a goddess, after all. An angry one.

"Hurry!" Yoshi urged as Palutena began to charge her largest beam yet. DK expertly steered the Flyer under the floating island and toward the northeast, and soon enough, their way out became apparent: an unmistakably odd cloud formation shaped like a Pokéball.

Pit cried out as he dove away to avoid the massive column, which was heading straight for the Flyer.

They all yelled as the approaching energy shook the Flyer violently even without having touched it yet. Their ship sped toward the portal and just barely made it through before Palutena's beam consumed it. And just like that, Skyworld was gone.

* * *

The sky they came out in was just as bright, but definitely much safer than the last. No wrathful deities pursued them as they descended toward a rather large island which was half brown wasteland, half lush greenery, a dark mountain rising like a barnacle between the two sides.

"Now what?" DK yelled over the roar of the wind.

"I vote we go toward the nice side," Yoshi said.

"Red told me once about the Pokémon Champion of Orre," Link said just as loudly. "I think his name's Wes. We should seek his help. Let's just find the biggest town and start from there."

But the Funky Flyer began to splutter. Uncomfortably so.

"That magic woman's beams must've done a number on the Flyer's engines," DK said. He noticed a decently large settlement residing in the midst of a cluster of plateaus and cliffs nearby. "Wasteland it is."

DK made a point of landing behind a tall ledge a moderate distance away from the town, just in case they had to make a quick getaway but didn't want anyone else tinkering with the ship. They disembarked and began meandering toward the town, the weather hot and dry, the mountain towering above them some ten miles away, the ocean to their backs.

They rested for about half an hour and ate the last of Yoshi's fruit, then proceeded into a low canyon which was the result of several different mesas almost colliding from different directions, leaving a wide snaking gap which led to a colossal gray dome. And within that snaking gap resided Pyrite Town.

Link, Yoshi, and DK felt like bigger misfits than a spaceship in the middle of medieval Akaneia (which had, in fact, happened on one occasion). But they had no choice other than to walk straight into the town, for there was nowhere to hide—just a wide paved path with rusted buildings lining either wall of the canyon. Some of the structures looked like small industrial plants; others like military barracks or storage facilities; others like simple metal cubes with filthy windows. One building had the appearance of a green barrel with a fan spinning on the roof for some reason. The paved ground was stained and scarred and littered with trash of every kind. It was as if someone had tried to build a city out of a dump and had given up halfway.

And the community didn't look any more welcoming. Shady young people in hooded jackets and ripped jeans and decaled bandanas lurked around every corner, engaging in who-knew-what kinds of sketchy business enterprises.

Notably, there were no Pokémon to be seen—at least, not out in the open. Link wondered how the Pokémon worlds had been affected by the Heartless. He didn't have to wait long to find out.

A girl with turquoise hair and a pair of hunting goggles, wearing a brown leather jacket over a yellow long-sleeve shirt and blue trousers, gave them a suspicious look and strode up to Link, glancing at the other two warily.

"What do you think you're doing, bringing Wild Pokémon into Pyrite Town?" she asked.

 _Pokémon?_ DK and Yoshi then realized that any animalic creatures here in Orre—them included—were assumed to be Pokémon.

Link caught on as well. He cleared his throat. "Of course not. These are _my_ Pokémon. Who I've trained. Because I'm their Trainer. Yeah." He wasn't exactly sure how a Pokémon Trainer was supposed to act, but he was positive his peasant's garbs weren't how a Trainer was supposed to dress. And it was not lost on the girl accosting him. But her response surprised him: She approached him and spoke in a hushed voice.

"Kid, you can't just waltz around with Snagged Pokémon; you know how things are. If the Ascetic's underlings catch you training Pokémon, you're done for—and you'll put the entire Under at risk."

There were way too many unfamiliar terms in those two sentences for Link to follow. So he clung onto the small part he understood. "Don't worry; I checked to make sure there were no Ascetic agents around. I'm looking for a Pokémon Champion named Wes; know where I can find him?"

The girl's expression went from one of condescension to disbelief. "Pokémon Champion? There hasn't been so much as a Bug Catcher for three years now. Did you come from another planet or something?" She lowered her voice again. "As for Wes…these days we call him the Deep King. If you're looking for an audience with him, you must have your fingers in a lot of pies. So let me give you some advice: Get out of here, get rid of these Pokémon, and start over somewhere else. The Under isn't a place for the fainthearted…or the sane, really."

Link nodded. "All the same, my business is urgent. I must get to the Under and find him."

She sighed and shrugged. "Your funeral. It's across the bridge and down the elevator, as I'm sure you know. Don't make eye contact with anyone else; you're lucky I wasn't in the mood to beat you to a pulp, but you won't likely find much mercy from most folk in these parts. Especially in the Under. Now get those Pokémon back in their balls before you get us all killed!"

"Uh…back in their balls. Right." Link glanced at DK, who looked like he would strangle him if he threw so much as an apple. Yoshi just shrugged at him helplessly. "Yeah…they're not really too keen on Pokéballs; I've been going for a more down-to-earth, rustic training style, you know?"

"Whatever…just get your butts into the Under where they won't find you, and you'll be safe. Relatively."

She turned and stalked away.

With that, the three of them proceeded through the town, Link walking in front of the other two to make it seem as if DK and Yoshi were indeed just obedient Pokémon following their master. But even that got them a lot of strange looks, for apparently Pokémon Trainers weren't supposed to exist anymore. But Link hoped this underground network would get them to where they needed to go: the Heart Softeners.

After a few minutes of heightened vigilance for potential muggers and pickpockets, they came to a chasm about ten feet wide with a suspended bridge connecting the two sides. Link hesitated, sure that he was about to get sniped by some evil sharpshooter Pokémon as soon as he stepped on the bridge. But they really had no other choice; if having Pokémon out in the open was as dangerous as that girl had said, then the sooner they got indoors, the better.

They traversed the bridge—slowly but steadily—without incident. Then they entered the huge steel dome which look like it contained (and in fact did contain) its own stadium. But once they walked into the waiting room and approached the bespectacled, dark-haired attendant, it became clear that the Pyrite Colosseum wasn't where they would be going.

The man raised his eyebrows and removed his glasses at the sight of the three odd newcomers. "What kind of Pokémon are these? I've never seen anything like 'em."

"I'm here to see the Deep King," Link said coolly. "He sent for me to bring these fine specimens for consideration."

The man stroked his chin. "Well, normally we require a special pass card to take the elevator. But I can see from your appearance that you've come a long way with a valuable prize, and it sounds like you know what you're doing, so go on in." He pressed a button which opened the elevator to his left. "If you're not who you say you are, they'll find you out anyway."

Link nodded to the attendant, and they entered the elevator. There were no buttons, but the attendant must have been operating it himself, for no sooner had the doors closed behind them than they began dropping with a lurch, the whole machine vibrating in the rough shaft. After several uncomfortable minutes, they came to a grinding halt, and the doors creaked open to reveal The Under.

It was more or less a small underground city, with lots of glowing signs and halogen bulbs making up for the lack of natural light. A seemingly endless, misty chasm surrounded the rocky plateaus upon which the liquor stores and taverns and apothecaries and other such buildings were constructed. The air was still and frigid, and a creepy silence dominated the mostly empty paths and plazas. At the far end of the cavern, another steel dome signified what was surely the Under Colosseum.

Link had barely taken a step off the elevator when suddenly they were accosted by a Bodybuilder with shades that were rather useless underground, but they did make him look extra intimidating. He folded his arms menacingly.

"Where are you taking these Pokémon?" he grunted.

"To the Deep King," Link said promptly. "By special request."

The Bodybuilder briefly looked him up and down, then paused longer to inspect DK and Yoshi, clearly impressed.

"Some right unique Pokémon you've got there. Get back on and I'll clear you to go down to the Deep."

Link was confused, but Yoshi pulled him back into the car just as the bodybuilder swiped a card on the outside of the elevator. A green light of approval flashed, and then they were plummeting once again.

This ride took much longer—at least ten minutes. Link was starting to wonder whether they'd nearly reached the center of the planet when the elevator finally clanged to a halt, opening its doors to reveal a passage of near pitch darkness which ended in a bright, glass-covered dome.

"This had better be worth it," DK grunted, still in a bad mood ever since he'd been labeled a Pokémon.

"I have a feeling it will be," Yoshi said optimistically—an attitude that seemed almost inappropriate in this environment.

They crossed the long path of darkness, able to see almost nothing but the shining dome ahead. At last, they reached the front doors, which were blocked by two suit-wearing guards who were also wearing rather ineffective shades.

"Are you in the queue?" one of them demanded.

Link paused. His ability to lie was wearing thin. "No…but I bring with me two never-before-seen Pokémon. I challenge the Deep King to a battle…for his crown."

The guards glanced at each other and laughed. The other guard responded. "Good luck, kid; it was nice knowin' ya."

They parted and allowed him and his two "Pokémon" through. What followed was a short tunnel which led up to the bright entrance of the colosseum itself, from which the roar of a large crowd could hardly be ignored.

"Are you sure about this?" DK asked. "I mean…it sounds like this Wes person's some kind of crime lord. What if he just decides to off us all?"

Link didn't know what to say. But then the words came to him. "We just have to have faith that the Hand of Fate is on our side."

There wasn't much to say to that, so without further ado, they walked out into the blinding lights and beheld the heaving masses of spectators on tiered seats all around, as well as the combatants in the center.

"Forretress, Rapid Spin!"

The Pokémon looked like a floating boulder with two eyes peeking out of maroon-colored openings in the center and four turret-like protrusions from each side. It shot forward, spinning rapidly as the move suggested, and smashed into the opposing Exploud, eliciting a deafening roar as the huge violet beast collapsed to the ground and fainted.

The disappointed Trainer, another Bodybuilder in a muscle shirt, Returned his Pokémon and left the field in disgrace, leaving the victor and his Forretress to await their next opponent.

Link gulped, but kept walking toward the Deep King. The champion before him was still a young man, but the strength in his amber eyes was as intense as a Charizard's Fire Blast. His unkempt ashy hair; his sharp cobalt jacket and black shoulder armor; and the white stripe of paint across the bridge of his nose identified him as the greatest Trainer Orre had ever seen. He frowned as Link, DK, and Yoshi came to the opposing side on the battlefield.

"What manner of Pokémon are these? I've seen no such species in any known Pokédex—and I know them all."

Link tried to look and sound more confident than he felt. "New species, just discovered in the…uh…Termina Region. Are you too scared to fight me or somethin'?"

"Hm." Wes considered him thoughtfully, showing no sign of whether he accepted Link's story or not. "Very well, then. Let's see what you've got. You have two, so this shall be a team battle."

He Returned Forretress and tossed two other Pokéballs, from which sprung two foxlike Pokémon: Espeon, with soft lavender skin and red-violet eyes and a red jewel on its forehead; and Umbreon, with jet black skin and glowing yellow rings shining like halos in random spots on its body, its eyes just as bright.

"Right," Link said. "Um…Go, Donkey Kong! Go, Yoshi!"

DK threw him a scathing look as he and the green dinosaur took to the field. And then the fight began.

* * *

Five minutes later, DK and Yoshi were sprawled on the field, groaning and unable to get up.

Wes smirked. "I have to say…the green one's egg powers were quite impressive; the monkey's rather useless, though. But I digress." He held out his hand. "Pay up. Five thousand Poké Dollars."

"Uh…" Link reached into his pockets. All he had were Coins and a few Rupees. Then he felt something soft in his pack. "Yeah, I've got your money. As a matter of fact, why don't I throw this in along with it? It's an extremely rare Berry; gotta be worth a thousand Poké Dollars at least."

Wes caught the Heart Fruit with one hand and inspected it. "Interesting," he said. "I've never heard of your Termina Region, but it intrigues me. Perhaps my crime syndicate, Cipher, can arrange some under-the-counter business with your people. We mainly deal in Pokémon, but other goods of value might appeal to my buyers."

He bit into the fruit.

And then, just like the others, an expression of confusion crossed his face. He looked around him at the Deep Colosseum, at the screaming spectators still celebrating their reigning champion's latest victory. Then he looked back at Link.

"What's going on?"

"It's a long story," Link said.

* * *

They sat in Wes's private chambers in the Under, a penthouse apartment with a view of the only interesting scenery around here—the city itself. Most everything in penthouse—the furniture; the walls; the appliances—was dark gray or black, in keeping with the shady criminal black-market theme.

"So you're trying to save the Smash Universe from Xehanort by finding magical objects that open people's hearts—Heart Softeners, you called them?"

"Yep," DK said.

"Well," Wes said, standing up, "you're in luck. I think I know exactly what you're looking for. I'll take you there as soon as I can untangle myself from all my current crime syndicate business."

"Sounds good," Yoshi said.

Wes closed his eyes and clenched his fists, as if in pain. "You have no idea what it's been like—forced back into my criminal ways from when I served Team Snagem. I was the one who single-handedly put an end to Cipher, who defeated Gonzap and Nascour and Evice and the rest of those crooks. But it seems these Heartless influenced me to reform it again myself. Everything I've worked for has been undone, and with the Ascetic watching Orre and Kanto like a hawk, there's hardly any chance we'll be able to recruit any Pokémon to our cause."

"This Ascetic," Link said. "Who is he?"

"From what you've described, I think he's one of Xehanort's Vassals, in charge of Nintendo's Pokémon regions. When Xehanort took over, the Ascetic dismantled the Pokémon League—and society itself as we knew it, really. All Pokémon were released into the wild; they have all become savage and aggressive toward humans. And now people are at each other's throats all the time over petty disputes that they'd once resolved through Pokémon battles. Or worse—they've joined crime rings like mine that illegally train and traffic Pokémon. Things are worse than they've ever been."

"We agree," Yoshi said. "Which is why we need your help."

Wes nodded. "This World is sick. And I'm going to do everything in my power to help you heal it—or die trying. This isn't just a battle for the Smash Universe's freedom; it's a battle for our souls. And if we fail, then we'll no longer exist in a world worth living in."

* * *

 **Hyrule Castle**

* * *

"Lord Ganondorf…what news have you from Xehanort? Did you ask him to grant me Vassalage?"

Ganondorf groaned as, once again, he was accosted by the short, pale man in a purple tunic with long lavender hair and passionate red pupils. He couldn't walk down a single candlelit corridor in his own castle without having to deal with this wannabe supervillain's vain, whining aspirations.

"As I have told you many times already, Vaati," he said, glaring down at the Minish, who was no more than three feet tall, "the Master requires no more than thirteen Vassals; that is why it's called Organization XIII. He granted you freedom from the Heartless only because your heart already happened to be dark enough to fulfill his purposes without them. Now leave me be!"

But Vaati followed him down the hallway, talking in his annoying, silky voice all the while. "But Ganondorf…surely both of you must see that I can be of great value to you—that I can harness some of the power of Kingdom Hearts just as well if not better than many of the other Vassals! I mean, not all of them are even completely evil! That robotic crocodile, which has no mind of its own; the Pokémon extremist, who still cares more about his spiritualism than keeping his realms in check; and the soft-hearted pilot, whose only claim to fame is his deranged ancestor—"

"SILENCE."

Vaati stopped speaking.

Ganondorf spun around and grabbed the front of Vaati's tunic. "Xehanort, in his wisdom, chose eleven Vassals whose hearts were perfectly dark—and then two which still had trace amounts of light, but had remarkable potential; their stewardships and their experiences with the Master have purged them of light many times over. He did not choose you…not because you lacked the heart, but because your dark heart is a pathetic one, useful only for responsibilities as small as your Minish race. You think because you have faced the Heroes of Legend a few times that you deserve greatness…but you do not. You are nothing compared to me."

That seemed to strike a nerve in Vaati. He narrowed his eyes. "But if you'll just let me—"

"Begone, dwarf!" A surge of purple magic blasted from Ganondorf, blowing Vaati clear down the hall into the opposite wall. He turned and went on his way. "Hmph."

He had no time for aspiring nuisances like Vaati. Not when after three years, great events were soon to transpire.


	12. Chapter 10: Purged

" _No creature was meant to be forced to cater to the whims of humans."_

 _ **~Quentin**_

* * *

Chapter 10: Purged

* * *

 **Orre Region**

* * *

 ** _W_** es arranged for special transport to take them discreetly across the desert to the green side of Orre. Granted, the "special transport" consisted of his bulky hovering motorcycle, which had a huge engine at the front with several exhaust pipes and a sidecar. It made for a tight fit for both Yoshi and Link, even with DK holding on behind Wes. So it was effective, but by no stretch of the imagination was it comfortable. And it roared and rumbled so loudly that none of them could hear each other even if they yelled. But according to Wes, this was much safer than the Funky Flyer, which would immediately stand out and almost certainly call the attention of the Ascetic's agents.

The journey took the greater part of three hours. Once they crossed the oddly immediate boundary into the grass and trees of the northwest side of the island, the sun didn't seem to bake them quite so badly. A fresh breeze blew across the landscape. Whispering aspens and oak trees rustled as if they were gossiping about the newcomers.

Wes steered the motorcycle up and over a ridge, and there below them sat Agate Village—one of the purest pearls of all the Pokémon regions. On one side were steep, misty cliffs that dropped to the ocean; on the other was a magnificent waterfall that formed a wall of rushing glitter. The village itself was built on a hill, with homely birchwood buildings and the roots of a giant tree which wove in and out of the ground throughout the village, all converging on an ancient stump at the top. It was like a paradise within a troubled world.

As they pulled into the village on a boardwalk that took them across a sparkling stream, Wes explained why they didn't have to be subtle about their arrival.

"Agate's full of senior citizens, former Pokémon Trainers and Healers who've long since retired. The worst the Heartless could bring out in them was idleness—like your island tribe, Yoshi."

They climbed out of the hovering motorcycle and began making their way along the green hill's base.

"When I was fighting against Cipher," Wes continued, "I Snagged certain Pokémon called Shadow Pokémon—whose hearts had been darkened much like what's happened to the rest of This World. Even after all I could do, though, they couldn't be completely purified until I took them to the Relic Stone."

"So anyone whose hearts we want to open has to be taken here?" Link said.

Wes shook his head and smiled. "You'll see."

They walked down into a gaping hole at the base of the tree, as if they were descending into Wonderland. There they found themselves in a surprisingly spacious subterranean passage beneath the tree—the Relic Cave, as it was called. DK had to duck beneath twisting roots as thick as tree trunks. The passage was lit by a strangely luminescent pool of turquoise water which glistened like liquefied gems and thinned into a narrow brook further into the cave.

"There's a special magic here—a power beyond any of our current understanding of the Pokémon world." Link noticed something flash behind Wes's eyes. "Even the Ascetic has yet to uncover its mysteries. That's another reason why we're safe here. It's a sanctuary to all that is good, and a hospital to all that is not."

Soon enough, they passed up through another hole back into the light of day—only, now they were in a thick grove of emerald green trees. The Relic Forest was so full of life and energy that Yoshi felt he could stay here for an eternity and die happy. Or—who knew?—maybe the waters of that pool were an Elixir of Life that would prolong their lives and their happiness indefinitely. Such powers wouldn't be out of place in this peaceful haven.

Finally, they came to the Relic Stone. Sitting upon a large stone platform shaped like a giant crosshair, it looked like a statue of several Pokéball-shaped wedges stacked on top of each other, with a few pieces partly pulled out like a half-finished game of Jenga. The bright sunlight shining through the canopy of trees contributed to its ancient, otherworldly presence. There was something sacred about this place that reminded Link of the room in the Temple of Time where he'd pulled the Master Sword from its pedestal—a sword that no longer existed.

They walked up to the Relic Stone, and Wes turned to face them.

"We don't have anyone with us right now to test it on. But once a Shadow Pokémon's heart was sufficiently softened, bringing it here was the final step in purging it. The Relic Stone is said to be where the Legendary Pokémon Celebi, Guardian of Time and Voice of the Forest, once landed, causing this place to flourish. Celebi hasn't been seen since the Heartless arrived; it probably left for a different time where it would be safe from corruption. But there is a way—one way—to call upon its aid anytime, anywhere."

Wes stepped off the platform and walked up to a particularly thick tree. He traced his fingers along its smooth bark, then opened a hidden door, reached down inside, and pulled out a sackcloth bag, which he brought over to the three Smashers. He pulled out one of its contents: a wooden flute that didn't look remarkable in any way—in fact, it looked fragile enough to be snapped in half just by stepping on it.

Wes placed it in Link's hands for him to look it over. "Time Flutes, when played by one with noble intentions, will immediately summon Celebi's power to purge the heart of whoever hears its melody. Through my years of traveling, I've collected these rare objects; there should be more than enough for you to purify the rest of the Twelve…but they're each for one-time use. After you play one, it disappears. So guard them as you would guard the hearts of your loved ones—for that is exactly what you will be doing."

Yoshi accepted the bag, which appeared to contain at least another few dozen Time Flutes. He looked at Wes with concern. "Shouldn't we leave some with you…you know, to save the rest of Orre?"

Wes shook his head. "Even if I played one at the top of Realgam Tower and purged thousands of hearts…that would only draw the Ascetic's—and Xehanort's—attention much faster than we would want. They would just summon more Heartless to darken us all again. The only way to really free us, I think, will be to free Orre from the Ascetic's reign with the Kingdom Key you've described. Once that happens, Orre and Kanto will be cleansed together, and Xehanort's influence here will be cut off. But until then…it's best that you reserve the Time Flutes only for the select individuals you need to help you on your quest. We must keep your mission hidden from Xehanort for as long as we can, and pretend to still be under the Heartless' power; otherwise, our efforts will have been in vain."

Link nodded. "You've been a great help to us. Are you sure there's nothing we can do for you and Orre before we go?"

"What you can do," Wes said, "is what you've already been doing. Find the Twelve; rescue Sora and the Kingdom Key; and use it to put a permanent end to the Ascetic's twisted tenure. I'll be here if you need me…but like the others, I cannot leave my region under Xehanort's regime."

DK pulled out one of Pit's pebbles. "We should go, then; we need to find out where the next portal is."

They left Celebi's shrine and the Relic Forest behind and stopped at the crystalline pool in the Relic Cave. DK dropped the pebble in the water, and they waited expectantly, hoping nothing had happened to Pit since they'd left him with an angry goddess.

Sure enough, just a few seconds later, the pool became smooth, and Pit's bright countenance appeared like a projection. He beamed.

"I'm glad you guys are all right! How did everything go in Orre? Did you find more Heart Softeners?" He looked at Wes. "And I assume you're the Champion."

"Wes helped us get everything we needed," Link said. "Now…we need a way out of here, preferably without having to fix the Funky Flyer and risk drowning on the way back to the mainland. Are there any portals nearby?"

"Let's see here…" Pit looked away from them, presumably to consort the map of the Nintendo World and identify the markings that represented portals. After a minute or so, he turned back to them and grinned. "You're in luck! You know that waterfall you passed by on the way here?"

Link nodded.

"Well, just go straight through it, and it should take you directly to Kanto! Not quite sure where in Kanto, exactly…but it'll put you on track to find Pikachu and Jigglypuff."

DK groaned. He didn't like getting his hair wet unless he absolutely had to. And he was loath to leave the Funky Flyer behind, however in need of repair it might be. But it would be too risky and take too long to go back through Pyrite Town, so it seemed they had no better alternative.

"Thanks, Pit," DK said. "We'll get right on that; Nintendo'll be purged before you know it."

"Are you doing okay after what happened with Palutena?" Yoshi asked.

Pit laughed. "Yeah, I'm fine; she didn't really buy my story about sending you on a mission for Xehanort…but the one thing she's able to do that I think only gods can accomplish under the Heartless' influence is use her pride to override her loyalty to Xehanort. She's not about to help us or anything—she'd probably still try to kill you on sight—but I seriously doubt she'll report me or any of us to him. So we're good for now."

"That's good to hear," Link said. "We'll see you later, then?"

"For sure!"

The rest said their farewells to Pit, whose image became rippling colors without any shape or form, leaving them alone in the Relic Cave once again.

* * *

"Give my regards to Red when you see him," Wes said as the three Smashers prepared to leave Agate Village through the waterfall, having been supplied with more food and provisions by Wes from the Agate market. "After you open his heart, of course."

"Will do. Take care of yourself." Link shook his hand, and they turned to the pool at the base of the waterfall. They waded tentatively into the chilly water up to their waists (or, in DK's case, more like his knees) and approached the wall of cascading water. They waved back to Wes one last time and then faced the purported portal.

"Here goes nothing," Yoshi said, and hopped inside, followed by Link, who hesitated only slightly, and Donkey Kong, who hesitated significantly longer.

* * *

They came out, spluttering, from another waterfall, which oddly seemed to empty into a sea, or a very large lake. Link, DK, and Yoshi paddled their way around the edge of the cliff until they found a small beach and got their bearings, the heat of the sun feeling glorious upon their wet skin and hair.

It was another island—a very small one, not much larger than the one in the Waffle Kingdom where Princess Éclair's White Chocolate Castle stood, no more than a few miles in diameter. There were multiple volcanic peaks covering much of the island's surface, with clusters of tropical trees in between. They also notice the odd geographical feature of a channel that seemed to run diagonally right through the middle of the island, almost making it two islands in a way.

"Anyone know where we are?" DK asked, shaking water from his hair.

"There aren't too many islands in Kanto," Yoshi said. "I traveled through it back in Master Hand's days; this has to be Cinnabar Island, on the west side of the Cinnabar Sea."

Link couldn't help but stare at the channel running through the island. "I'm guessing that was another thing caused by Reeka's Deconstructor." He turned to Yoshi. "Do you have any ideas where we might find Pikachu and Jigglypuff?"

Yoshi considered it for a moment. "Pallet Town," he said finally. "That's Red's hometown; it'll be just north of here, so it's as good a place to start as any. You can even see its shore from here." And, indeed, a dark line on the northern horizon indicated Kanto's mainland (and, by extension, the rest of Nintendo).

"Right," DK said. "Let's find a way to get over there, then, before—"  
A roar cut the Kong off, followed by a thick stream of red-orange flames that narrowly missed his head. He rolled aside as Link drew his sword and Yoshi pulled out an egg and faced the intruding Pokémon. It was a Magmar—a kind of mix between a wingless Charizard and a duck. Its eyes were as savage, its demeanor as aggressive, as Wes had promised.

It drew in a deep, foreboding breath, and then blew out an enormous, asterisk-shaped Fire Blast. Link mounted Yoshi, who Flutter-Jumped them both out of range, while DK rolled out of the way just in time, though he had to extinguish the flame on the top of his head. He narrowed his eyes.

"All right, tough guy…try some of these!"

He lobbed several exploding oranges, all of which the Magmar dodged—except one. The Pokémon was blasted to the ground, a dazed look in its eyes. DK turned to the others.

"Like I said…let's get outta here!"

They raced around the edge of Cinnabar Island, but soon found that Magmar wasn't only Wild Pokémon who had noticed them. A flock of ferocious Spearows cawed and dived from the sky, clawing and pecking at their heads. Yoshi and Link fended them off with eggs and arrows as best they could. A charging Rhyhorn burst from the trees to their left, meaning to bulldoze them back into the sea. DK jumped in front of it and literally grabbed it by the horn, being pushed back across the beach until finally he was able to use the Rock Pokémon's momentum to fling it over his head into the water, where it bellowed and fainted.

They didn't dare look behind them again as a cacophony of other Pokémon noises followed; it was as if the island's entire ecosystem had awoken and decided to dispose of its unwelcome guests.

As they curved around the northeastern shore, looking for anything that might serve as transport across the water, they noticed a dilapidated, abandoned villa a little further inland. Cement buildings overgrown with vines and weeds; streets cracked by encroaching tree roots; and a long flat building that looked like a laboratory of some kind, its white walls scorched and shattered and caved in.

"There!" Link pointed. Docked beside a short wooden boardwalk over the water was a motorboat. None of them knew whether they could start the thing without the key—let alone steer it—but this was their only chance. They raced to the dock, dodging the sudden Thunder Punch of an Electabuzz which had burst from the lab ruins, and hopped inside. As the strange black-and-yellow creature came after them and Link tried to start the boat with the key that was conveniently left in the starter, Yoshi pulled out a packet of spicy curry from Agate Village and quickly swallowed it. He spat out a trio of fireballs, inevitably putting a halt to Electabuzz's advance.

"Come on…" Link grunted in frustration, trying to remember what he'd seen others do with the various ships and hovercrafts he'd been around since joining the Smash Brothers. He turned the key and held it again, and at last, it spluttered to life and grew to a healthy rumble. Without thinking, he slammed his foot on the pedal.

"Whoa!" DK and Yoshi almost fell over the side as the boat jerked forward, throwing them back into their seats and propelling them away from Cinnabar's hostile wildlife. A few of the Spearows pursued for a short time, but soon gave up and contented themselves with cawing threateningly from a distance. A number of other Pokémon that became too small to identify gathered along the shore, as if resenting the strangers' escape.

Link clung onto the wheel for dear life as they rocketed across the water, which thankfully was smooth; yet the motorboat still seemed to buck and pull like a poorly trained racehorse. Sea spray peppered his face even with the protection of the windshield.

After a while, though, he began to get the hang of it. He leaned forward and laughed, enjoying the rush of the boat's speed and the wind whipping through his hair. The shore of Pallet Town was quickly approaching.

But nature wasn't done with them yet. On either side of the boat rose two monstrous Pokémon: Tentacruel—a giant squid with a bulbous blue and red head and sinister eyes poking from its dark underside, slimy gray tentacles squirming underwater. And then Gyrados—a mix between a sea serpent and a Chinese dragon, its eyes filled with the rage of the abuses it had long endured as a lowly Magikarp.

Several tentacles emerged from underwater and attempted to whack the boat. Yoshi spat another trio of fireballs, driving them away, and chucked an egg straight at the Tentacruel's darkened face. It emitted an angry warble, raised its head from the water, and spewed a powerful Bubblebeam. Yoshi cried out as he was hit off the boat, but he felt DK's large hand close around him just in time. After a meaningful glance, the Kong launched the dinosaur straight at Tentacruel's head. Yoshi Flutter-Kicked and finished with a Ground Pound, which simultaneously knocked Tentacruel out and bounced Yoshi back into the boat.

Gyrados, meanwhile, seemed to have been biding its time—or, as it happened, its Hyper Beam. A deadly red glow developed near its mouth…

DK's fist beat the Water Pokémon to it as he leapt and punched it hard in the face. He hopped back onto the boat once more as Gyrados roared and sank into the ocean.

But it wasn't done with them yet.

Link felt Gyrados's massive body bump underneath the boat, and for a moment he thought it would try to capsize them. But the motorboat's propeller-driven engine would have made such a move costly, so instead, it swam a short distance ahead, and then surged out of the water, forming an impressive Waterfall that would strike them shortly before Gyrados's own 500-pound Body Slam.

Link tossed his Gale Boomerang, which simultaneously struck Gyrados in the middle, throwing it off course, and scattered the falling water with a small whirlwind. The beast crashed into the sea inches behind the boat as they made for the shore. The water was becoming fairly shallow now, so Gyrados was unable to pursue.

They made port at another small dock and quickly disembarked. Link stashed away the key, and DK quickly tied the boat to a wooden post before they ran to get far out of reach of any potential Hyper Beams.

Fortunately, they were unimpeded in their short run from the shore to the outskirts of Pallet Town. They had reached civilization, and that, for some reason, appeared to keep the Wild Pokémon away.

Finally taking a moment to catch their breath on the paved road, the Smashers took in the small settlement before them—just a few small houses, Professor Oak's laboratory, and white picket fences and fresh-smelling pine trees dotting the landscape. It was peaceful—almost too peaceful.

"How…do we…find…Red?" DK panted.

Yoshi didn't respond for a moment until he was breathing at a more normal rate. He pointed at the blue-roofed house right next to Oak's lab. "I'm pretty sure that's Red's house, from what I remember. We'll just have to have one of those Time Flutes at the ready and hope he's there. There's no point in trying to hide as Pokémon again; we were complete strangers in Orre, but here in Kanto someone's bound to recognize us."

Link recalled that even Mr. Game & Watch hadn't recognized him, but in any case he pulled out one of the small wooden flutes as they approached the house. Despite the semi-traumatic experience they'd just had with aggressive Pokémon, he actually felt calmer this time than when he had run into Yoshi, or when they had tricked DK, Pit, and Wes into eating the Heart Fruit.

"Wait," Yoshi said in a hushed voice, pulling them behind a tall bush as the door to Red's house opened. They watched as Red's mother, Delia, walked out, followed by his sister April. The two humans said nothing, but made their way over to Professor Oak's lab. Delia didn't knock, but merely allowed the automatic glass doors to open and went inside with her daughter.

"O…kay…" DK was at as much of a loss as Link and Yoshi. "What now?"

"We follow them in," Link said, breaking his cover and leading the way to the lab entrance. "The more of Red's friends and family we can find together, the better."

They cautiously approached the entrance, but nothing impeded them; the automatic doors opened to admit them as it had those who came before.

It was as if they had entered a chapel. What had once been Oak's lab was now a dark, candlelit chamber filled with pews. The walls were embellished with painted Pokémon looking down upon them: Gardevoir; Steelix; Lugia; Wailord…all on a transcendent level of their own, incomparable to the frail humans below. People sat along the pews, not praying to the Pokémon per se—but paying obsequious respect, as if atoning for a burdensome debt they owed to the images above. Most just sat and stared at the pictures, appearing lost in their own inferiority and their deep desire to please the creatures.

At the far end of the "chapel" was a podium in front of an enormous mural of a Mew, its fathomless eyes overseeing everything below. Currently, no one was behind it; the occupants were all just standing or sitting around. Link recognized Delia and April in one row; Gary and his grandfather in another; and then…a young man stood and approached the podium, his eyes shaded by his red cap, his expression as solemn as that of anyone else's. Link's eyes widened.

 _Red?_

"Fellow sapiens," Red said, breaking the nearly perfect silence. Link had just barely peered around the corner with DK and Yoshi behind him, so none of them had been noticed yet. "Thanks for joining me in paying our devotions to the Pokémon spirits—and to the Bond that binds us together. The Ascetic…my father…has led us well in eschewing the corrupt traditions of our past, and in showing us the better way, he's granted us all a chance to redeem our fallen selves by exemplifying the reverence we should have shown our whole lives. The Pokémon are truly merciful to us in allowing us to live in our towns and cities free from harm. As long as we follow their rules as revealed to us by the Ascetic…as long as we bridle and then harness the natural darkness within each of us…Kanto will prosper. Master your darkness, master your world."

"Master your darkness, master your world."

"Master your darkness, master your world."

"Master your darkness, master your world."

The chant was murmured in broken unity, as if they were uttering a solemn incantation as a hermitage of monks.

Link was taken aback. There seemed to be a certain degree of this ceremonial behavior that wasn't all that perverse; Link wasn't a Pokémon Trainer himself, but Red had discussed the respect he felt he owed the Pokémon world all the time. Yet there was a certain darkness—a cultish vibe—that went far beyond respect. He decided that the heart of it was fear. And then learning that the Ascetic was Red's own father, Quentin…How had such a wise, powerful ally merited a place in Xehanort's highest circle of Heartless souls? Whatever had happened, this all had to be stopped.

He stepped out into the open, with Yoshi and DK behind him. Red's chanting came to a sudden stop as he saw them, and then the rest of the murmuring cut off soon after as people turned to behold the intruders, some with confused expressions, others suspicious or even hostile.

Link gave Red no time to utter another word; he held the Time Flute to his lips, intending to play the Minuet of the Forest or some other random tune, figuring it wouldn't matter what exactly he played. But the music that came out was different; it was serenity, purity, perspective, and hope, all rolled up into one simple melody.

Red and the other people of Pallet Town froze, entranced by the music, as the air around Link became speckled with gold and emerald sparks, which spread out to envelop everyone else in the room. Link didn't see the Pokémon Celebi appear—at least not in any physical form—but he did feel a presence: a poignant synchronicity that made him believe without the faintest doubt that all would work out in the end. And he had a hunch that everyone else was feeling something similar as their hearts were opened.

Even though Oak's lab was still dark and lit by candles, things seemed somehow brighter as the Time Flute's song came to a close and the colorful sparks vanished. People looked confused again, but for a different reason—because they now saw things as they really were.

Red blinked rapidly and rubbed his eyes. "Link? Yoshi? DK? Is that really you? What's going on?" Nearby, April, Delia, Gary, and Professor Oak looked like they were wondering the same thing.

Link came up to Red and patted him on the back. "Your hearts have been freed from Xehanort's spell, Red. Don't worry, we'll explain everything."

"Do you know where Pikachu and Jigglypuff are?" Yoshi asked.

In response, two Pokéballs detached themselves from Red's belt of their own accord, and from them appeared the two Smashers in question. They both looked quite stiff, as if they were Play-Doh sculptures that had been left to dry and crack in the sun.

"Pikaaaa…" Pikachu complained, meaning, "I know the Heartless messed with your mind, Red, but I can't believe you kept us stuck in those Pokéballs for _three years_ …"

"Jiggly-puff!" the Balloon Pokémon assented, while also reasoning, "I guess the worst quality that could be brought out in him was his sense of being a special exception as a Trainer—even to the point of secretly keeping his Pokémon while everyone else had to release theirs into the wild."

As the two Pokémon stretched their neglected bodies, Delia approached her son.

"Whatever your friends have to say, Red, let's go home first; I'm sure they're tired and hungry."

DK's stomach rumbled audibly. He didn't have to say anything.

* * *

The five Smashers sat around Delia's kitchen table along with Red, his mother, April, and Gary. All of them were gorging themselves on Delia's tofu. Professor Oak had remained behind to send everyone else home and to instruct them to stay indoors until further notice. The Ascetic's followers could come by at any time, and if they found out what was going on, there would be trouble.

Red looked at his Pokémon with concern. "So if only the Twelve can cross boundaries, does that mean I'll have to stay behind?"

"I don't know," Link said. "Maybe since you're the one who trained them, you count as part of the Twelve in a way. It's worth a try."

Gary sniffed disdainfully with his arms folded. "If we can't go with you to stop Xehanort and can't even overthrow Red's dad without this Kingdom Key, what was the point of waking us all up?"

"It was the best chance we had to get to Pikachu and Jigglypuff," Link said. "I'm sorry the rest of you had to be there; but you're all going to have to keep carrying on the way you've been for a while."

April looked to be on the verge of tears. "It's just so…awful! I don't even know what's happened to Luigi…and Dad…he's…he's…"

"He's a villain," Red said grimly. "Somehow, Xehanort must've convinced him to join Organization XIII so he could make the changes he wanted to Kanto. And Orre, too, apparently. Whatever his original intentions, he's made Kanto a Heartless world ruled by fear; he has to be stopped."

Link nodded, sorry he couldn't offer more comforting news. He looked at the two Pokémon. "So now that we've found you, we have to find a portal to the next region. We've got five down, but there are still seven to go—plus Sora."

"Let's find a pond or something and talk to Angel Boy again," DK said.

Red smiled. "No need. Being the rebellious darkened soul I was, I often ventured where we were forbidden, catching Wild Pokémon just for the fun of it and then letting them go before I could get caught. It just so happens that I found a weird rock formation one day in Mt. Moon—shaped just like that glowing star thing Kirby always used to ride."

"The Warpstar!" Yoshi said. "That's gotta be a portal to Dreamland. How far away is it?"

"Not too far," Red said. "But it would still probably take several hours from here to get inside and find your portal."

Delia took that as her cue. "Well, you can't all make that trip before dark. You'll stay the night here and head out in the morning."

Link was about to disagree, but Red shot him a warning look. The Hylian consented.

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

They slept comfortably in Red's house—even DK, who was afforded the entire living room since none of the beds were big enough for him. But all the Smashers were tense, worried about what would happen if they were found out.

They were treated to a glorious breakfast by Delia: pancakes; eggs; bacon; orange juice; milk; strawberries. Even DK was full by the time they headed out the door.

At the northern edge of town where the tall grass marked the beginning of Route 1, the Smashers were met by Delia, April, Gary, and Professor Oak, who had all come to see them off.

Gary approached Red and frowned. "I still think I should come with you…at least to Mt. Moon. What if you get in a scrap and find yourselves biting off more than you can chew?"

His grandfather placed a hand on his shoulder. "Gary, none of us have Pokémon anymore except for Red. If you or April or anyone else goes with them, then Xehanort will find out right away that Pallet Town's hearts have been softened. I know it's hard for someone as young and strong as you…but we have to let them go. They're our only chance."

"Hmph." Gary backed off.

April hugged Red tightly. "Be safe out there, little bro…and when you find Luigi, tell him I'm all right."

"Will do."

Delia was next, embracing her son as if she was never going to see him again. "If you see your father…don't try anything foolish. That Omni Ball of his makes him far stronger than any of us, even without whatever power he's gained from Xehanort."

Red nodded. "I won't, Mom. And I'll find a way to make him see the error of his ways. I promise. I just know there's still good in him."

With that, they set off down Route 1, leaving Pallet Town behind.

"Yes," Professor Oak said gravely beside Delia, April, and Gary. "But the question is, how far down did Xehanort bury that spark of goodness? How completely smothered is his soul?"

* * *

They proceeded north toward Veridian City, ready to defend themselves against any hostile Pokémon. But for some reason, having Pikachu and Jigglypuff with them seemed to keep the savage wildlife at bay; perhaps they were confused about why their Pokémon kin had sided with these unwelcome travelers.

And so the Smashers trekked through the tall grass, traversing the relatively flat wilds until they came upon the next settlement: Veridian City. It was larger than Pallet Town, with buildings colored a dark forest green, but still small compared to population centers like Saffron or Celadon City. It main feature had been the Ground-Type Pokémon Gym which had once been manned by Giovanni, and then later by Gary; but as the party walked as inconspicuously as they could through the town (Pikachu and Jigglypuff having Returned to their Pokéballs), Red explained that the building had been converted for a purpose similar to Professor Oak's lab: to serve as a center of worship to the mighty Pokémon which had so benevolently chosen to spare the lives of Veridian's inhabitants. Red also explained that the murals in each gym corresponded to the types they had once represented. For example, the one in Veridian City was decorated with paintings of Ground Pokémon like Dugtrio, Sandslash, and Marowak.

Fortunately, no one confronted Red's group of misfits as they departed Veridian City and continued into Veridian Forest. As before, the presence of two "domesticated" Pokémon seemed to ward away the majority of the wildlife. However, as they pressed through the dense pine trees, thousands of insects buzzing and rustling in their hidden homes, there would occasionally be a Beedrill or a Rattata bold enough to rush at them from the trees on either side of the path. In those cases, Pikachu usually chased them away with a warning Thundershock, or else the other Smashers would resort to their most immediate forms of defense to do likewise. It felt so different from the Relic Forest in Orre. Claustrophobic. Oppressive, even. As if nature wanted nothing more than to swallow them all into an inescapable abyss.

At length, the Veridian Forest came to an end, and a short while later they entered Pewter City, whose buildings were all stone gray. Though they also passed through it without incident, Red was disturbed to encounter the Rock Gym's onetime Gym Leader, Brock—a good friend—servilely polishing a life-sized statue of an Onix in front of his gym, muttering that same incantation under his breath.

"Master your darkness, master your world…"

He wanted nothing more than to talk to him, to play one of those Time Flutes and free his friend's mind. But he knew it would be pointless to do so. Not until the time was right.

Moving on past the eastern end of Pewter City, they walked through Route 3, which in addition to tall grass now featured increasingly frequent boulders and ridges and rock formations. At one point, a Pidgeotto divebombed from the sky, but Yoshi took it out with a well-aimed egg before it could attack Red's head.

Soon enough, the tall rock mound known as Mt. Moon loomed ahead. Its surfaces were far too treacherous to climb, which was why travelers always went through the cave that was marked by a huge black cavity at the end of their current path. But before they could go inside, two imposing Pokémon stepped out from the surrounding underbrush and blocked their way.

Nidoking and Nidoqueen, both four-foot reptilian creatures with leathery plum and blueberry skin, respectively. Both with spikes and horns and dark, aggressive eyes.

The former charged forward; its Take Down attack was met by Donkey Kong, who pushed against it with great effort. In spite of the Kong's larger size, however, he found his strength almost perfectly matched by the Ground/Poison Type. Nidoqueen, meanwhile, fired a stream of Pin Missiles and Poison Stings, injuring Yoshi and poisoning Pikachu, who had jumped in front of his Trainer to take the needle in his place.

"Pikachu!" Red cradled the onetime Pichu in his arms and narrowed his eyes. He turned to his other Pokémon. "Jigglypuff, use Rollout!"

But Jigglypuff, angered by her partner's injury, chose that moment to learn a new move—similar, but more powerful. As her round body began to spin, a steely current whipped around her, and she rocketed forward, taking Nidoqueen down with her unprecedented Gyro Ball attack.

Meanwhile, DK and Nidoking were still locked together, neither one able to make headway against the other. Nidoking gave a wicked smile and lowered its head as its horn began to shine. DK's eyes widened. A Horn Drill attack would end this deadlock once and for all. And not in a pretty way.

Nidoking bellowed as Link's sword slashed across its back. As it turned to deal with the interloper, DK took the opportunity to drive his fist down onto the creature's head, pushing him at least a couple feet into the ground. Link followed up by whacking its head with his shield, taking Nidoking out of the picture.

They stood there, breathing heavily, as Red quickly administered an Antidote to Pikachu's poisoned condition and gave Yoshi a Super Potion to help his own injuries.

"I don't think I like Pokémon as much as I used to," DK grumbled.

Yoshi sighed and rubbed his head. "I have to admit…all these unfriendly animals are really wearing me down."

"Don't worry." Red stood up from his crouched position, Pikachu and Jigglypuff jumping onto his shoulders. "We're almost there."

Link's lantern and Red's flashlight illuminated their way into Mt. Moon, the rocky walls narrowing and widening, the stalactite-covered ceiling lowering and rising unexpectedly. It was cold and wet, and they could see their own breathing in the artificial lights. As they wound deeper and deeper into the labyrinthine cave, they warded off shrieking Zubats and Golbats from above. On one occasion they passed through shallow water infested with creepy Omastars—helix-shelled ammonoids with short, pale feelers. Pikachu's Thunder Wave, thankfully, disabled the creatures long enough for the heroes to safely step over and past them.

Red navigated the cave with surprising ease. It was clear he had indeed been here many times during the past three years—not just while he was first collecting badges as a novice Trainer. He led them past cracked walls with the glowing red eyes of dome-shelled Kabutos glaring at them from within the crags.

Yoshi gulped and tried not to make eye contact with them. "Red, aren't Pokémon like these supposed to be extinct?"

Red nodded. "My dad took it upon himself to collect Helix and Dome Fossils from every corner of Kanto and used Cinnabar's lab to resurrect Pokémon like Omastar and Kabuto before the place was overrun by Wild Pokémon; he considered it part of his duty to the Pokémon spirits. Just be thankful we haven't run into any Kabutops…"

"I would knock on wood," DK said, equally disconcerted by the Kabutos, "but there isn't any."

Red paused as the passage opened out into a larger chamber, its edges masked in shadow. "We're here."

And indeed, hanging from the ceiling was a strange column of rock which ended in a rounded star shape whose black surface shimmered like water. The Warpstar.

They walked until they were almost directly under the suspended portal—albeit some 20 feet below.

"And just how exactly do we get in there?" DK asked.

"You don't."

From the darkness around them emerged five figures: Quentin, dressed in his usual cloak and tunic, with Gardevoir at his side; Lance and Agatha, with uncharacteristically stern expressions on their faces; and Mewtwo.

There was an uninhibited power in Mewtwo's eyes that Red hadn't seen since he'd met him for the very first time. All the hatred, all the pain, all the wildness was back as if it had never left. Mewtwo had allowed these emotions to control him after his artificial creation by human scientists using Mew's DNA, but had since subdued those passions with reason and even empathy. But now all that was gone.

Mewtwo was illuminated by the purple energy around his body, while the rest were illuminated by…Omni Balls. Lance and Agatha had them too, the electric blue glows lighting their faces like ghosts.

Red clenched his fists (one around his flashlight) as Pikachu and Jigglypuff positioned themselves between him and his father.

"You used me," he said. "The Heartless forced me to follow you. But now I can see everything, and you'll never make me participate in your twisted cult again."

Quentin's voice was surprisingly soft. "Red…the Heartless don't force anyone to do anything. They merely bring out who you really are on the inside. And you were meant to stand at my side, to help direct the free Pokémon world."

"Free?" Red narrowed his eyes. "I thought you were going to 'free' Kanto by killing everyone in it."

"Yes…" Quentin stroked his beard. "But thankfully, before I could do so, Xehanort came and showed me a better way. I did not have to purge the _people_ of Kanto; I just had to purge their _hearts_ —rid them of the artificial corruption of Pokémon ownership. Is this not how humans and Pokémon were always meant to coexist, Red?—to pay each other due respect? To honor the Spirit Bond that holds all our species together?"

"You've got a funny way of defining respect," DK couldn't help interjecting. "People here don't respect Pokémon; they're terrified of them! They worship them like vengeful gods! And the Pokémon themselves…they're just bent on killing anything that comes from the outside, probably afraid humans'll kill them too. All you've done is made everyone afraid of each other."

Quentin's eyes flash briefly with an anger that matched the passionate purple in Gardevoir's. "You Smashers simply don't understand—Xehanort is no tyrant; he's a liberator. He has made it possible for everyone in This World to be their true selves while also creating peace in our time. By trying to bury each other's dark sides, all you've done is create another chore Xehanort has to task his Vassals with cleaning up. But fortunately, that chore ends today."

Yoshi drew an egg as the other Smashers prepared for battle. "Not if we've got anything to say about it!"

Quentin laughed. "You really don't. But worry not; we don't want to kill any of you. You just need to be taught a lesson before the Heartless come to return you to the correct mindset." He turned to Red. "I've allowed certain individuals, like Lance and Agatha here, to wield a certain form of Omni Ball—not as powerful as my own, but enough to call upon any Pokémon of their own specialty type—Dragon and Ghost, for instance. But even if you managed to stop them—even if you got past Gardevoir—you'll never triumph over Mewtwo, the greatest Pokémon of them all. You are outmatched, Smashers; give in now, and you will suffer no pain, but will be returned to where you belong."

"Never!" Link released his arrow, which flew toward Quentin's chest. But it froze in midair thanks to Gardevoir's Psychic power, snapped in half, and clattered to the ground.

In response, Lance summoned Flygon (which looked like a six-foot dragonfly-lizard hybrid with huge ruby eyes and diamond wings) while Agatha summoned Dusclops (which looked like a short cyclopean mummy with armless hands). Mewtwo began generating a Shadow Ball, and Gardevoir, while remaining motionless, looked like she was preparing to do something nasty.

Just when all Hell was about to break loose, Link acted fast. He began blowing into another Time Flute, which, while not affecting Quentin's naturally darkened heart, did affect everyone else's. The brief melody and shower of glittering green and gold brightened the cavern like a secret Fairy Fountain, and just a few moments later, all was as it was before—except now Lance and Agatha, their Pokémon, and Mewtwo were free of the Heartless.

Even Quentin was briefly shocked by how quickly the tide had turned. Mewtwo was the first of the newly awakened to recover. He took in the Smashers, the other humans, and the peculiar rock formation jutting from the ceiling, and made an impromptu plan.

 _"Cover me while I send them away,"_ he communicated to Lance and Agatha and their Pokémon. They complied and directed fiery Dragonbreath and Will-O-Wisp attacks toward Quentin and Gardevoir, who blocked them with her lavender Light Screen.

Mewtwo, meanwhile, began using Telekinesis to lift the heroes toward the portal. He guided each one up through the dark star formation in turn: first DK, then Yoshi, Link, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff. He paused and made eye contact with Red before pushing him through. Red hovered there, horrified, as hundreds of Heartless began rising from the rocky ground, intent on corrupting the rebelling Pokémon and Elite Four members anew. The boy wasn't even sure he would be able to leave Kanto; what if it didn't work, and he was left here to suffer the same fate?

 _"Go and do what you must to stop Xehanort,"_ Mewtwo's voice echoed in Red's mind.

Red's head was pounding, his heart racing, his emotions in disarray. _"But what about you?"_

Mewtwo's eyes shone fiercely. _"We will be waiting for your return."_

With that, he caused Red to levitate up through the portal. As Red departed, he glimpsed the Heartless overwhelming his friends, and his father overseeing it with a coldness which surpassed even that of his brother, Giovanni.

* * *

Red was almost blinded by the bright sky that dazzled his eyes as he appeared out of a nut-brown tree trunk, its high bushy branches laden with healthy green leaves and an abundant supply of smooth, dark red apples. As he adjusted to the light along with Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Link, Yoshi, and DK, he observed that they were in a large clearing in the midst of a forest of similar trees, though none were as grand as the one from which they had emerged. It was a colorful, pleasant place. Red unslung his pack, hung it on a broken branch stub, and sat down in the grass. The others followed suit, tacitly agreeing that it would be an excellent place for them to eat.

Though shaken by their recent ordeal (Red especially; he'd accepted his father's awful role among Xehanort's elite, but it was still a heavy burden to bear), all were glad for a chance to rest. Delia's tofu, along with other food they'd brought from Pallet Town, was welcomed by each of their stomachs, DK's being particularly capacious. But Yoshi, who was used to eating fruit off of trees, eyed the apples hungrily, thinking of the Super Happy Tree. And with one quick motion, he lashed out with his tongue and drew one into his mouth.

Yoshi spat it out even more quickly, the bitterness totally unexpected. He grimaced. "How could something that looks so ripe and delicious taste so disgusting?"

Link looked thoughtful. "Maybe the Heartless brought out the worst in plants too, making their fruit bitter—or even poisonous."

But DK was unconvinced. "Then why've the bananas in the Kongo Jungle still been good the last three years?"

Link just shrugged and leaned back against the trunk with his hands behind his head.

They sat there for a while longer, pondering some of these unconsidered ramifications of the World of Heartless for some time, and also just making the most of this rare moment of respite. Somewhere high above them, they could hear the call of some kind of bird as it flew among the clouds.

Jigglypuff puffed down to the ground with a brighter red apple clutched in her stubby arms and landed in front of Red, looking delighted.

"Puff!" she said, which meant something along the lines of, "This apple tastes amazing! If it's poisoned, though, be ready with one of your Antidotes."

It wasn't poisoned, but that was almost preferable to what happened next. Suddenly, the branches and roots began to move of their own accord, and what Red had taken for a broken branch from which to hang his bag turned out to be the nose of Whispy Woods's indignant face. Unlike the Great Deku Tree, its eyes and mouth consisted of black hollows in the trunk—except the eyes were narrowed into what were more like tilted hemispheres. Angry hemispheres.

Jigglypuff stared at Whispy Woods sheepishly, the apple core still in hand. "Jiggly?" she said apologetically.

But the sentient tree would have none of it. He inhaled deeply, then exhaled a strong windy blast which swept all the heroes across the clearing toward the tree line, tumbling head over heels.

Roots struck out of the ground and swung at each of the Smashers, smacking them down and wrapping them in tight wooden constrictions. Link swung his sword vainly and DK tried to rip the fibrous bonds apart, but it was no use; Whispy Woods was too strong.

Another blast of air occurred on the opposite side of the tree—not blowing this time, but sucking. Apples tore off Whispy Woods's branches in bushels, every morsel, twig, and leaf being consumed by the round pink source of the vacuum.

Kirby was no longer the black, yellow-eyed Heartless Kirby who had appeared at the wedding three years ago. But that hunger—that insatiable, indomitable hunger—was still there. And from the look on the puffball's face, Red had a feeling he wouldn't be satisfied with just fruits and veggies.

With Whispy Woods more or less incapacitated (its roots had retreated into the ground for fear of its ravaged branches becoming too bare to keep it alive), the six heroes all turned to face Kirby, who had just reached the tree trunk and was considering them as one would a full-course buffet.

Link panicked; he'd left the bag of Time Flutes by the tree. If Kirby ate them all now…

Pikachu's Quick Attack sped there and back before Kirby could react (and by "react," it is meant "to eat Pikachu"). The Pokémon delivered the bag of flutes into Link's hands just as Kirby began his next self-initiated windstorm, this time to clean up the leftovers—both living and nonliving.

They cried out as they were sucked into the air, making an involuntary beeline for Kirby's bottomless stomach. Link fumbled with the bag and just managed to extract a Time Flute and pipe out a few notes.

But that was enough. Right before Pikachu became Kirby chow, the music and sparkles enveloped the glade, causing both Kirby and Whispy Woods to immediately calm down. The sudden cutoff of his suction did, unfortunately, cause his would-be supper to drop straight to the ground.

"Poyo?" Kirby glanced around naively, then yelled for joy at the sight of his friend Yoshi and the other Smashers. He scampered up to the dinosaur and helped him to his feet.

"Yoshi!" Yoshi said, embracing Kirby and just glad his friend was here and back to normal, no matter what horrendous fate they had almost just suffered. The others rose to their feet, rubbing aching areas, but smiling with relief.

But the excitement wasn't over yet. From within the woods, Heartless began pouring into the clearing on every side like a colony of giant black ants. They were a virtual sea of black antennae, claws, heads, and empty yellow eyes. And they had the Smashers surrounded.

"Um…" DK watched the hordes of Heartless draw nearer. "Anyone got any bright ideas?"

Link thought as hard as he could, going through his inventory in his mind, but he shook his head. "I have nothing that will help."

"Even if we fight through them," Yoshi said, "we'll be infected by their dust and our hearts will be darkened again. What do we do?"

Red didn't even speak. All he could do was stare at the Heartless and think of how quickly his journey had come to an end—how quickly he'd failed Mewtwo, and Lance, and Agatha, and Pallet Town.

A huge shadow overtook the clearing as an enormous bird with rainbow plumage alighted in front of Whispy Woods. Its great blue eyes fixed Link with a meaningful look, and it bent down as if it wanted him to climb on.

"Chu?" Pikachu said, wondering why this eagle-like bird—who happened to be Dreamland's Dyna Blade—wasn't attacking them like almost every other living thing they'd come across so far.

"I think," Link said, "she heard the Time Flute and was freed along with Kirby and the tree! Get on, all of you—we've got nothing to lose!"

"Speak for yourself," DK grumbled, but climbed on all the same.

Within thirty seconds, they had all mounted Dyna Blade's back. With a powerful wing beat, she took off—and none too soon, for almost immediately after, the Heartless swarmed around Whispy Woods beneath them, some leaping and reaching and grasping for the bird's talons. One actually caught on, but the mighty fowl flicked it off and soared away over the canopy of Green Greens before either she or her passengers could catch so much as a whiff of the Heartless' corrupting matter.

* * *

 **Castle Oblivion**

* * *

Ganondorf entered Xehanort's throne room once more and inclined his head.

"You summoned me again, Master Xehanort."

"Come with me."

Slightly surprised, Ganondorf followed the old man back out the doors, and they began walking down one of its pearly white corridors, the insignia of the Nobodies carved into the walls. They passed around corners and up stairs. The only other occupants were inconsequential Nobodies—white creatures that looked sort of like emaciated Starmen with pale, fleshy skin, small heads with black teeth, and in place of eyes or a nose, a flat gray surface decorated with the Nobodies symbol. In that sense, the Nobodies were similar to Master Hand's Wire Frames, which bore the Smash Tournament symbol in place of facial features. They moved with an unsettling instability, as if they were wont to lash out and strike at anything that suited their fancy—although that still wasn't as unsettling as their complete soullessness, which was like a chicken with its head cut off, its body still fluttering around, whereas the Heartless were more akin to the chicken heads, mounted on a stick with glassy eyes boring into their murderers. The latter was merely without emotion, whereas the former seemed purely out to create chaos. Nevertheless, they did heed Xehanort's orders whenever such were issued.

Of course, none of this unsettled Ganondorf at all. But it occurred to him every now and then that such things would likely come across as rather disturbing to the average Nintendonian.

Finally, they reached a long corridor where one side was patterned with windows—windows shaped not in the form of the Nobodies' symbol, but in that of the Heartless: a heart which looked like its contents were spilling out of the point at the bottom in a three-pronged breach.

Xehanort stopped so they could look out one of the windows. Whatever vista might have been seen was obscured by a thick shroud of midnight blue clouds, which swirled around the perimeter of the castle in regular motion. Dark shadows moved in and out of the current, Heartless making their morose orbits. Occasionally, thick streaks of white lightning lit up part of the air, as if the whole castle and its surroundings were inside a giant plasma globe with electric cracks pulsing from glass to glass. Ganondorf could watch it all for hours—and, in fact, he had on several occasions.

Xehanort looked out through the window beside him, hands behind his back as always.

"No doubt you have heard of the sightings in Orre and Kanto, yes?"

Ganondorf nodded. "It seems I was mistaken; the Kong and the dinosaur are traveling together, seeking out their friends." He laughed. "As if they could ever hope to find _all_ of the Twelve on Nintendo. There are few things I relish more than the foolish acts of a desperate hero."

Xehanort nodded, expressionless. "You are right. But what catches my attention, Lord Ganon, is not their persistent attempts to purify their friends; it's not even that they managed to get the Champion of Orre to find them additional Heart Softeners. He has been taken care of, and anyone else who dares give Yoshi and Donkey Kong aid will be likewise administered to. No…what perturbs me is that there is mention in the reports of a third hero—a peasant boy, who fights with a sword. He would be of no consequence…except he has accomplished the impossible: He has crossed the borders between realms unharmed. What do you make of this?"

Ganondorf furrowed his brow and stroked his chin. "He must be one of the Twelve, then…and yet all the others are accounted for. Unless the Pokémon Trainer or the psychic child suddenly learned how to wield a blade, or the Hero of Legend resurrected himself, this cannot be."

Xehanort stroked his own chin. Apparently the action was contagious. "You _are_ sure that Link of Hyrule is dead, then?"

Ganondorf's eyes burned. "If he were alive, the Triforce of Power would sense it. As would the Triforce of Wisdom within Princess Zelda, who has manifested no unusual behavior these past three years." He paused. "But I wonder…is Sora, from your old universe, able to traverse between worlds also?"

Xehanort appeared impressed by Ganondorf's question. "He could indeed…were he to be set free. But he is safe in the dungeons of this castle. There is no way for him to awake from his sleep alone—a sleep once placed upon his forerunner, Ventus." He drummed his fingers on the window sill. "However, you bring up an interesting point. I can go where I please in This World, being an outsider to it…so if another from the old world were to have escaped here also…"

"Then he would be able to roam free as well," Ganondorf finished.

Xehanort turned away from the window with a small smile. "Your perceptiveness is a gift, Lord Ganon. I see now how you were able to reign over Hyrule for such long epochs even with heroes and goddesses constantly trying to bring you down…and how you were only hindered by Ganondorf's human weakness. Now, you are the god; the hero is dead; and the goddess is your maidservant. You see how far we have come together!"

Xehanort said no more, but wandered back the way they had come. Ganondorf, however, lingered to watch Castle Oblivion's unnatural weather. The white flashes reflected in his eyes like flashes of memory. And for one brief moment, a small piece of the sky cleared enough to reveal the ground below—or, more specifically, the grounds and ramparts of Hyrule Castle.


	13. Chapter 11: A Joke and a Half

" _Beanspeed, comrades!"_

 _ **~Prince Peasley**_

* * *

Chapter 11: A Joke and a Half

* * *

 **Kirby's Mind**

 **Dreamland**

* * *

 ** _H_** _eartless Kirby leapt forward without warning and hammered Meta Knight straight in his mask, cracking it down the middle. Meta Knight rolled over and regained his footing, beating his wings and rising into the air, the hand holding Galaxia shaking._

 _"This is not you, Kirby; you are the most fearless, uncorrupted hero of all of Dreamland. Whatever demon has possessed you, fight it! Do not let Xehanort win!"_

 _But Heartless Kirby came back again, this time with a Cutter Blade. It went so fast that Meta Knight was only able to prevent it from hitting his face; his right wing, however, was slashed severely, grounding him for good. He struggled on the ground like an injured bat, having much more difficulty rising this time._

 _And then Heartless Kirby's hunger took over. He opened his mouth, which was only slightly blacker than the rest of his body, and began to inhale._

 _"No, Kirby…" Meta Knight's wing twitched. "You are not a monster…"_

 _But the black Smasher seemed to have no ears for his comrade. Slowly, Meta Knight's body was dragged along the ground. And then, just before it lifted into the air, the cracked metal mask flew off in two pieces, revealing Meta Knight's true face: a face that was almost exactly like Kirby's, except with a dark blue body and dauntless, glowing, mature yellow eyes._

 _The leader of the Smash Brothers disappeared into Heartless Kirby's mouth—never to return again to this mortal world._

"Meta!"

Kirby awoke suddenly, his face wet with tears. Meta Knight…his staunchest friend and mentor…the one who had guided him on his path to become a true Star Warrior…the fearless leader of the Smash Brothers…he was gone.

And Kirby was the one responsible for his death.

As he took in his surroundings, he felt as if the past three years hadn't even happened—as if he'd just woken up after the terrible nightmare of that wedding. It was almost more than he could bear, but being in a somewhat familiar location went just a little way toward grounding him back in reality.

Dyna Blade's nest sat on one of several peaks poking through a swirling bed of blue clouds, together forming the Candy Mountains. Their name was justified by the mountains' uncanny resemblance to giant pieces of candy corn. The nest itself was big enough to fit a small house, so there was plenty of space for Kirby, Red, Pikachu, Jigglypuff, DK, Yoshi, and Link to fit along with Dyna Blade herself and several rainbow-colored eggs about the size of King Dedede. Twigs and moss and fiber were woven together to form a surprisingly sturdy structure in such a precarious position.

"Kirby?" Yoshi took a step toward him, but Kirby recoiled and shook his head.

"Monster," he said, and pointed to himself. He retreated to the far wall of the nest and turned toward it and sat down, as if putting himself in time out.

The Smashers looked at each other uncertainly. While Yoshi went over to be with the distressed hero, Pikachu and Jigglypuff struck up conversation with their feathered rescuer.

"Pi Pika?"

Dyna Blade gave a methodical series of shrieks. Pikachu then turned to his Trainer and translated into his own Pokémon tongue, with which Red was familiar enough to understand. He in turn translated it again for the benefit of DK and Link.

"Pikachu asked Dyna Blade why she helped us," Red said. "She answered that the music opened her heart, and she knew whoever was responsible was a friend to her. She doesn't know what exactly we're trying to do, but she trusts us enough to help with whatever it is."

"Jig Jiggly-puff!" Jigglypuff said appreciatively. Then she eyed the unhatched eggs. "Puff?"

More bird shrieks and Pokémon translations.

"Dyna Blade's not trying to hatch her eggs right now," Red interpreted, "because she wants her chicks to grow up in a free world. She wants to know what else she can do to help us on our quest."

The others looked uncertain.

"We've got Kirby now," Link reasoned out loud, "so we just need to get to the Mushroom Kingdom to find Mario and Luigi."

DK turned to the giant bird. "Hey, do you know where we can find some water? We need it to get directions from our friend Pit."

Dyna Blade responded with a nod and a shriek, and the Pokémon and then Red translated.

"There are lakes all around Dreamland, but most of them are near Dedede's settlements, and we'd be spotted right away if we went anywhere near them. The Fountain of Dreams, which is just off the southern coast, will be our best bet at finding somewhere to talk to Pit in peace."

"King Dedede's the Vassal here, then?" Link said.

Dyna Blade shook her head and shrieked once more.

"The Vassal over Dreamland rarely visits here. He's usually out in space spending time on other planets, leaving the easy management of Dreamland to King Dedede, who's excessively lazy these days, but he does at least keep things pretty well organized. They call their Vassal the Voyager for that reason."

"All right, then," Link said. "The Fountain it is."

Meanwhile, Yoshi sat beside Kirby, giving him a long moment's sulking silence.

"Whatever happened to you, or whatever you did, it wasn't your fault. It was Xehanort's."

Kirby said nothing. Rarely had the Star Warrior ever looked or felt so distraught. Then again, never had he killed someone close to him—Heartless or no Heartless.

Yoshi patted Kirby's head. "This has been hard on all of us, Kirby. We've all been forced to see the very worst in ourselves come out and take control. But that doesn't change this truth: At your very center, you're a good person. And what you do from here on out—how you help us stop Xehanort—that alone will prove him wrong."

Kirby still felt sullen, but he turned to Yoshi and gave an appreciative smile.

"Thanks."

* * *

The flight to the southern coast was exhilarating, if a bit chilly, the wind whipping past them as if the universe itself were opposing their intended course. The Candy Mountains gave way to the rolling slopes of Vegetable Valley, and then a tall cylindrical tower known as Butter Building. It was a spectacular view, although since Dyna Blade stuck to the clouds most of the time to avoid being spotted, her passengers really only got to enjoy the aerial perspective a few times, and then before long, they were passing across the same beach where Microsoft had once laid siege to the Nintendonian coast. The reconstructed Dedede's castle and the simple structures of Cappytown scrolled beneath them, and then they crossed over the ocean and up into the clouds again.

The floating island of the Fountain of Dreams was just ahead, shimmering against a backdrop of blue and pink fantasy clouds, the crystal-clear water spilling over the edges of the chalice-shaped island from a giant goblet which formed the center of the fountain itself. Strange ringed plants sprouted in clusters along some of the edges. With the late afternoon sun glowing softly through the clouds, it seemed like a secret paradise.

Dyna Blade landed with a gentle splash and allowed them to disembark. She shrieked meaningfully at Pikachu and took off again, disappearing into the rich-colored clouds.

"Pikachu will use Thunder to signal when we're ready to leave," Red interpreted shortly thereafter.

"This place…" Link found himself mesmerized by the pedestal where the Star Rod had once stood (it had since been moved following Kirby's first confrontation with Nightmare, who had sought to wield its power for himself). "It feels like a Great Fairy Fountain mixed with the Relic Forest."

"Poyo!" Kirby stared at his reflection in the mirror-smooth water, reliving that battle in his mind. Things had been so simple then: get the magic pieces…stop the villain…save the world. Now, it wasn't their dreams that were at stake, but their living reality. And their enemy had done more than defeat them physically; he had destroyed the very basis of goodness that Kirby, at least, had always operated under. Xehanort had forced them all to see their own ugliness.

DK groaned as the Dream Water seeped into parts of his hair. "Well, I don't like it. Let's get this over with." He was about to pull out one of Pit's stones when he was distracted by a figure that had appeared from behind one of the plants. "What the…?"

It was a strange being composed of an orange ball with big bulging eyes; a baseball cap; noodly arms and legs ending in white gloves and roller skates; and a blue Crayon clutched in one hand. Paint Roller wobbled back and forth before them like a little boy with too much energy for his own good. It seemed to smile with its eyes, and skidded up to DK and used its artistic implement to sketch out a large purple gorilla with an almost comically large hammer—a sketch with no visible canvas. Then the painting came to life.

DK had no time to stop Paint Roller from rolling and dancing away as the gorilla—Bonkers—came straight at him, hammer raised.

Paint Roller playfully spun over to Link and painted a conflagrant, savage-looking lion, its fiery mane giving it an almost devilish appearance. It, too, became animate and roared as it pounced at Link.

Next, the painter stopped in front of Yoshi, Red, and his Pokémon and this time drew a bunch of smaller creatures—Squeaks, multicolored mice armed with bombs and boomerangs and sporting half-moon shades. And they soon had their targets occupied as well.

Finally, Paint Roller skated over to Kirby and considered him, as if he were a model or source of inspiration. Then, it seemed to have a breakthrough; it raised a finger as one would when having a really good idea, then used the other to draw a more sophisticated figure: It was in shape and size very comparable to Meta Knight, only it sported a white mask with red eyes glowing from within a cross-shaped opening; a solid amethyst lance; teal angel wings; and a matching buckler shield emblazoned with a bright pink four-pointed star. Galacta Knight.

DK wrangled with Bonkers, both simians' muscles bulging. He kicked the gorilla in the chest and used the momentum to backflip in the opposite direction, then began tossing exploding oranges.

Bonkers swiped each projectile away with his hammer, charging forward and swinging it over his own head and onto DK's, knocking the Kong into the pooled Dream Water. DK's senses were exploding with pain, but he retaliated by drawing his Coconut Gun and firing a shot from the ground right into Bonkers's face. He followed up by pushing himself out of the pool, uppercutting the enemy, and tackling him headfirst, bulldozing him right off the edge of the fountain, where Bonkers burst into a shower of yellow stars.

Link danced around Fire Lion, aware that his cheap wooden shield wouldn't do him much good in this circumstance. He leapt out of the way of its flaming paws, then struck back with his sword, cutting it across the face.

Fire Lion didn't like that, as evidenced by its subsequent eruption into a mass of red fire. It began hurling streams of flames at Link, who had to drop into the shallow water and roll over to escape. From the ground, he quickly cast his fishing line so that it wrapped around Fire Lion's legs, then tugged hard, toppling it into the water like an AT-AT. He flicked his Gale Boomerang, which formed a whirlpool of Dream Water that completely extinguished the lion and caused it to roar and burst into yellow stars as well.

Pikachu Thundershocked and Tail-Whipped and Headbutted some of the Squeaks, while Jigglypuff Sang several to sleep and Double-Slapped them in turn, and Yoshi smacked some with his tail and swallowed and spat others over the side, and Red swung his backpack to fend off a few which were nibbling at his clothes and trying to climb up his legs.

A large cluster of remaining Squeaks lined up on the other side of Yoshi and the Kanto natives, and with one unified squeak, they charged toward the heroes—only to be redirected past their intended victims and straight into Kirby's awaiting mouth.

Kirby swallowed the Squeaks—which included some of their bombs and boomerangs—and acquired the combined power of Bomb and Cutter Kirby: Explosive Ninja Stars. He hopped out of the way of Galacta Knight's swift strikes, tossing the shurikens whenever he could. Both combatants' attacks kept missing for some time, until finally Kirby jumped clear over the Meta Knight doppelganger and chucked his last ninja star straight down, meeting its mark with a small blast.

Galacta Knight winced from the damage, but soon rose again and spun itself into a Mach Tornado, drawing Kirby in and hitting him with dozens of small slices and spitting him out like an unwanted cherry pit. Kirby just managed to get back up before Galacta Knight used its lance to send a yellow crescent of energy his way. He slurped it up and swallowed, and donned his green cap and silver blade as Sword Kirby.

They rushed each other and crossed blades, Galacta Knight swerving to the side with its wings or hovering clear over him, Kirby barely able to keep up with its rapid jabs and stabs. Finally, he managed to slide kick straight into its face, bowling under it, and spun around and drove his sword into its back, causing it to burst into a shower of yellow stars also.

The Smashers all turned on Paint Roller, several of them quite worked up and ready to teach it a more direct lesson. But its eyes smiled at them; it waved; and it drew a door in the air and disappeared through it, leaving nothing behind.

DK panted for a couple minutes, calming down, though his fists remained clenched. He turned to Link. "Why didn't you just Time Flute that guy out of our hair?"

Kirby shook his head. "Fun."

"I think what he's trying to say," Yoshi said, also out of breath, "is Paint Roller would've done the same thing even if we'd opened his heart. He has no sense of good or evil; he's just a mischief-maker in it for the fun. And the art, I guess. The Heartless just made his paintings more dangerous."

DK was busy straining water out of his hair. "Maybe Paint Roller's got the right idea of how to survive in This World, then," he muttered.

Link sheathed his sword and pulled out one of Pit's stones. "Well, in any case, it's time we move on before any other surprises show up."

He dropped the stone into the pool, which shimmered and reformulated to display Pit's figure.

"Hey, guys! You've already found Kirby, I see."

"Yeah," DK said. "Now get us out of here."

Pit consulted his map. "Interesting. Well, I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is, there's no direct portal from Dreamland to the Mushroom Kingdom; I guess they're already too close together geographically."

"And the good news?" Red asked.

"There's a few things actually; firstly, without even knowing it, you guys've stumbled upon another source of Heart Softeners! That Dream Water is really special; according to what the map key's telling me, it'll not only purge anyone it touches, but if you drink a sip of it, you'll be immune to the Heartless' corruption for a couple hours. Could come real handy in a pinch."

"That's great!" Yoshi said, thinking of the terrifying chase he and Link had experienced escaping from the Heartless Yoshis in the Unclaimed Territory.

"Yeah, and there's more: You see that pool over by the other end? No, the one by that weird plant, kind of out of the way. _That_ one."

Kirby stared at the pool curiously. "Bean?"

"It's shaped like a bean," Yoshi said. "Which means it'll take us—"

"To the Beanbean Kingdom," Pit said. "All you've gotta do is jump through while that plant ring's light is shining once every couple minutes."

"Wait," DK said. "There aren't even any of the Twelve in that region; why don't we just call up Dyna Blade and have her take us up to the border?"

"Peach's Castle is clear on the other side of the Mushroom Kingdom," Link said, remember the maps he used to receive for Master Hand's Smash Tournaments. "If we can get into Beanbean, that could actually cut our trip in half—if not more. Plus, we'll avoid the risk of anyone seeing Dyna Blade on the way over."

"Sounds good," Red said. Then he yawned. "But before we leave, would anyone mind if we grab a little sleep? I've kind of lost track of time, but I think it's getting pretty late."

A sigh beside Red directed the Smashers' attention to the fact that Jigglypuff had already used Rest and was fast asleep. Yoshi and Kirby found comfortable plants to lean against and did likewise.

Link shrugged and turned to Red. "You and I should bottle up as much of this Dream Water as we can; we'll definitely need it where we're going."

DK, who seemed to be the only one that didn't want to linger here any longer, groaned and looked down at Pit's reflection.

"Where in the Beanbean Kingdom will this portal take us, anyway?"

Pit glanced at his map and raised an eyebrow. "That's interesting."

"What?"

"The place where it's taking you…it's called Joke's End."

Once they had said their goodbyes and Pit's reflection vanished, DK wandered around the small floating island, bored out of his mind and wishing these trees at least had the decency to carry bananas on them.

 _The only joke around here,_ he thought, _is we've only got half of the Twelve…and yet some of us already feel like we've got time to relax in Dream Water as if we're literally video game characters that can just save our progress and go on later._

He soon calmed down and repented of his irritable thoughts, but still, he was concerned: How much had Nightmare, and L.O.G., and Xehanort gotten into all their heads? Were they really all just characters set on a fixed path as L.O.G. had claimed, or had they just messed up This World so royally on their own?

* * *

Once Pikachu had explained the situation to Dyna Blade the next morning, they ate a quick breakfast and were on their way. This time, DK jumped in the portal first, followed soon after by the rest.

They came out on the ramparts of a tower made of gleaming blue ice, lined with statues of a Beanbean with the most miserable, woebegone expression—precisely as if he had just been told a truly awful joke. The air was frigid and still, the view consisting of an arctic ocean riddled with icebergs and a creamy yellow sky. Even the clouds seemed frozen in place.

Link shivered in his peasant's clothes. "Where are the Ice Climbers when you need them?"

Red felt similarly, thinking instead of the warmth of his Charizard, who had been killed in the Battle of Fourside years ago.

DK, whose thick hair kept him cozy, tried not to look smug as they turned to behold the tower walls both above and below them. They were about halfway up, with no idea where to go. If they climbed down, they would just empty out into an endless frozen wasteland. But if they went up, there was no clear benefit of going that route either.

"Too bad Pit didn't give us any clue what to do next. It'll be a long walk to Peach's Castle from here."

"Did you say clue?"

As if in answer to DK's complaint, a hovering Beanbean girl winked into existence before them. She seemed to be made completely of blue ice, the yellow wand in her hand giving her the impression of a fairy. DK was too taken aback to respond.

The girl clapped her hands in delight. "Clues mean questions…and questions mean riddles! Welcome to Joke's End! I'm Jojora, by the way. I've lived here for as long as I can remember…mostly because my friend's cousin's ancestor was the one who owned it. If you guys are here for challenging puzzles and puzzling challenges, you've come to the right place!"

Link frowned, suspicious that the Heartless didn't appear to have any obvious effects on her. "We just need to get to the Mushroom Kingdom. We're not here to—"

"Well, why didn't you say so?" Jojora laughed and twirled her wand. "I've got a few conundrums I've been waiting to try out on someone for a really long time…but ever since that uncool pair of plumbers ruined my tea party, I've been all alone here. So will you play with me…pretty pretty pretty please?"

"Yes!" Kirby agreed before anyone else could object.

Jojora beamed. "Awesome! So here are the stakes: You solve three puzzles correctly, and I'll magic you guys straight over to Peach's Castle."

"And if we get one wrong?" Yoshi asked.

Jojora smiled enigmatically. "Then…you lose."

"Okay, then," Red said, rubbing his goosebumped arms. "Doesn't look like we've got any choice. What's the first puzzle?"

Jojora spun in the air and giggled. "You'll have to come into the tower to find out. Solve the first two to get to the top, and then I'll give you the last one there. Good luck!" She waved her wand and winked out of sight, her laugh echoing rather creepily in her wake.

DK glanced at the others, not feeling particularly keen on this. "Well, I'm no good at puzzles; I hope some of you have got minds for this kind of stuff."

Link nodded. "Solving puzzles is basically half of what I do."

Red nodded also. "I've had to think my way through a few labyrinths in my day."

Kirby, Yoshi, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff, who were more in DK's camp of inexperience, said nothing as the two young men led the way into the arched doorway over which a particularly horrorstruck face gazed down at them with glazed, pupilless eyes—as if to warn them, "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

They entered a large, rather overwhelming chamber. The walls were all mirrors; the surfaces were covered in blocks and switches and colored tiles and staircases and ledges; there were locked doors and gated corners with treasure chests behind them; and although there seemed to be no monsters or enemies lurking around, the spiked platforms and spinning fireball chains and icy stalactites did not exactly scream safety.

Link and Red glanced at each other.

"Let's get to it," Link said.

The others watched as the human and Hylian pair set about testing the switches; pushing the blocks; taking note of hidden levers only visible through the mirrors' reflection; discovering the correct pattern of colored tiles by observing the one on the underside of one of the platforms. Link used bombs and arrows and his boomerang to activate certain buttons and crystals, after which Red would pass through the opened gate or onto the animated platform, often evading falling stalactites to acquire keys or mechanical parts. Occasionally they would both stand on switches together to cause the next portion to open up, working their way slowly up the tower toward the door at the top of the room.

DK watched, impressed, as they dodged fireballs and jumped over spikes and rearranged objects in just the right way. Finally, after about thirty minutes of maneuvering, they had reached the top—only to find Kirby already there, he having just puffed his balloon-like body all the way up. The puffball leaned over, opened his mouth, and sucked hard, pulling Yoshi, Pikachu, Jigglypuff, and DK up to the top with minimal effort.

Link and Red just gaped at Kirby, who beamed back at them.

"Win!"

They decided any accusations of cheating would be irrelevant at this point, so they said nothing as they pushed the door open and proceeded up a small winding staircase to the next level.

The second room was much smaller than the last, but even more off-putting in a way. It was a simple room with a single door on the other side, but between the Smashers and their way out was a line of three figures—identical, living and breathing figures. And they weren't exactly friendly faces.

The three Fawfuls grinned eerily back at them, their short Beanbean figures made no less imposing by their swirling glasses, their goofy smiles, and their cowled red cloaks.

Yoshi raised an eyebrow. Neither he nor any of the Smashers here had ever confronted Fawful personally, but he'd heard the stories from Mario and Luigi of this eccentric villain who had plagued them on three major occasions, the last of which being at the top of Master Hand's Fortress, where he had been slain by Marth, but not before murdering Vivian.

"You're dead," Yoshi said, stating the obvious.

They all cackled simultaneously; it was like a nightmarish circus tent filled with devilish clowns.

"Of course Fawful has bit the proverbial dust, you Finkrats!" the middle one said. "We are but delectably elusive illusions, placed here to see to the final finale of your most final—"

"Yeah, whatever," DK interrupted. "What do we have to do to get past you?"

The middle Fawful grinned even wider, if that was possible. "Simplicity itself! You must choose one of us to walk through; two of us will kill you, but the third will let you pass. The two killers will always lie, but the third will answer with the truthful truth. You may ask two questions, each of any one of us, but then you must decide and hope you are not a failure among failures! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

"My brain already hurts," DK said, shaking his head.

Red and Link looked at each other, stumped. "That's a tough one," Link said. "I've never had to solve any puzzles like this."

"Me neither." Red stroked his chin. "Fawful, how much time do we get?"

"As much time as you like, Finkrats!" they all chittered.

The Smashers just stood there for several minutes, thinking. Then, unexpectedly, Pikachu jumped onto Red's shoulder and pulled on his ear.

"Piii Pikaaa!"

"Really?" Red listened as Pikachu gave him some kind of instructions. His eyes lit up. "Brilliant, Pikachu! You've done it!" He looked at the others. "Are you guys all right if I ask the questions?"

"Better you than us if you think you've got an answer," Yoshi said.

"But it'd better be the right one," DK added.

Red stepped up to the Left Fawful. "Here's my first question: which Fawful would the middle Fawful tell me is truthful?"

Left Fawful's grinning teeth seemed to sparkle sinisterly. "Why, as surely as the butter of the peanut belongs on the bread of rye, he would tell you he himself tells the truth! But 'tis a lie!"

Red then proceeded to the Right Fawful. "Okay. If I asked the Left Fawful whether the Middle Fawful would claim to be the truth-teller, what would he say?"

The Right Fawful had a poker face that would scare the skeletons out of his opponents. "You will suffer if you shun my words; for he would claim that my middle self would defer the words of truthfulness to me! Hear me or curdle as the milk of neglect!"

Red smiled. "I hear you all right. But I know you're a liar; you just contradicted the answer Left Fawful actually gave me." He turned to Middle Fawful. "As for you, if you were the truth-teller and Left Fawful were the liar, he would have also claimed that you would designate Right Fawful as the truth-teller. Which means...Left Fawful is the one that will let us pass safely!"

Left Fawful cackled. "Are you sure, boy of the monstrous pockets of Pocket Monsters? If you err, you shall die here and now, along with all your friends!"

Red shared one last look with Pikachu and said confidently, "I'm sure!"

Still, as he approached Left Fawful, he felt tense and feared that he had somehow missed something. He took another step…

…and passed straight through Left Fawful to the door on the other side.

"The correctness of your correct answer is the smotherer of disappointment," Middle Fawful said. And then, all together:

"I HAVE FURY!"

With those words, they faded away, granting the rest of the Smashers free passage to Red's side.

"Puff!" Jigglypuff said.

"Nicely done, Pikachu!" Yoshi agreed.

Pikachu just wiggled his ears happily, trying to appear modest.

They went through the door and came out onto the highest terrace of Joke's End—a flat icy surface bordered with crenellated edges. Jojora sparkled into sight above them and clapped her tiny hands.

"Great job, guys! You're a bunch of pretty smart Smashers, aren't ya? Tell you what—get my last riddle right, and I won't even report you to Xehanort! The hardest puzzles with the highest stakes have always been the deepest, darkest desire of my heart, so listen carefully. You'll be pretty unhappy if you slip up now:

"I have the face of a friend,

But the bite of a foe.

At my sight people shrink

But also might grow.

I come and go fast

Yet help others move slow.

You fear me like death

But need me to roll low.

Who am I?"

This time, everyone was stumped—everyone, that is, except Yoshi. He smiled.

"That's an easy one. Something that can kill you, shrink you, or make you slow, and that looks like something good, and is needed to 'roll low'? You're a Poison Shroom!"

Jojora smiled. "Nice job! You were so close."

Yoshi blanched. "What? That has to be right. Nothing else makes sense!"

Jojora wagged a finger at him. "Nothing…unless you count a Golden Poison Shroom. That'll make you even smaller and slower than a regular Poison Shroom."

Yoshi was aghast. "But those don't exist! I've never seen one in any of Mario's travels, or in our party games or Smash Tournaments. How is that fair?"

Jojora giggled. "It's not. That's the joke. Did you really think the Heartless would bring out fairness as one of my shining qualities? But don't worry; you might even have fun with your punishment. Say hello to two of the Beanbean Kingdom's strongest heroes gone bad! I think you know each other…"

A wave of the wand later, two figures materialized in front of the seven heroes.

Prince Peasley and Luigi.

"Yoshi?" the dinosaur exclaimed in surprise—albeit a mostly happy one, for they had inadvertently stumbled upon another of the Twelve.

Link actually smiled. "Thanks, Jojora; you've just made our job a lot easier." He reached for his bag of Time Flutes. But then they flew out of his hands into Jojora's—along with his and Red's bottles of Dream Water. She giggled.

"No cheating, guys! I wanna see a nice clean murderfest. Good luck!" And then she vanished—with the bag.

"Son of a…" DK turned with the rest and prepared for a fight. "I guess there's not any way for us to convince you two to give up and let us purge your hearts?"

"Nope," Luigi said.

"We two neglected green heroes have long been denied the recognition and prestige we deserve," Prince Peasley said, his personality still there—without the benevolence. "Now that the Heartless have opened our eyes to our true potential, we shall conquer all—and be crowned kings and rulers under the might of the wise Forger."

"Forger?" Link said. "That must be the Vassal over the Beanbean and Mushroom Kingdoms."

"Indeed, good chap," Peasley said, then drew his rapier and pointed it dramatically into the air as he always did. Some things never changed. "But enough dilly-dallying; on to the slaughter!"

He rushed forward and met Link's sword, and they began to duel.

Meanwhile, Yoshi faced Luigi tentatively. "I don't want to hurt you, Luigi," he said.

"Ho ho ha! But I want to hurt a-you!" Luigi sprung at his friend, fists ablaze with green fire.

Red, Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Kirby, and DK watched in slight confusion as eggs and Fire Beans and Ice Beans and green fireballs flew.

"There are seven of us and two of them," DK observed. "That Jojora girl didn't really think things through, did she?"

"Only one way to find out," Red said.

They dispersed, DK and Kirby down one side, Red and his Pokémon down the other. Within thirty seconds, Peasley had been flattened from behind by DK's palm and his rapier confiscated by Kirby's mouth, while Luigi had been Paralyzed by Pikachu's Thunderwave and Pounded into unconsciousness by Jigglypuff.

Before anyone could comment on how easy that had been, Jojora reappeared with a rather distraught expression—like a whiny little girl.

"You were supposed to kill each other!" she complained. "Fine…if you won't do it, then I guess my tea party friends'll have to do it instead!"

This time, about a hundred huge creepy dolls with stitched, ponytailed heads appeared from nowhere, filling the tower top. They surrounded the heroes like a bunch of zombified gorillas, ready to tear the ironic stuffing out of anything they came across.

"Oh, buckets," DK said.

Then Pikachu whizzed back to Red with the Time Flutes and Dream Water in tow, having Quick-Attacked the bag out of Jojora's hands just as he had from the base of Whispy Woods. Red quickly pulled out a flute and began to blow, hoping he didn't have to play as well as Link for it to have an effect.

The music and the sparkles came, cleansing the hearts of Jojora, the unconscious Luigi and Peasley, and the dolls, which all suddenly tipped over to the ground, as lifeless as all creepy dolls ought to be.

"Uh…" Jojora looked down apologetically at the chaos she'd caused. "Sorry about that."

"It's all good," Red said as he and the others examined their downed friends to make sure they were all right. "But can you take us to the Mushroom Kingdom now? And maybe help them wake up?"

"My pleasure, Smashers!" She waved her wand, and in the blink of an eye, Luigi and Prince Peasley were back on their feet, rubbing their eyes and reorienting themselves. Then she looked sheepish. "Um…as for the other thing, I actually can't magic you out of the Beanbean Kingdom. I only said that because I never thought you'd be able to win. Part of that whole unfairness streak thing. Sorry."

Peasley swept his luscious golden locks over his shoulder and laughed gaily. "'Tis but a trifle, comrades; I have everything you need to be along your merry way. Behold!"

He drew several bright green beans and tossed them to the ground, at which point they expanded to what was probably several hundred times their original size. Whereas before they were insignificant, uncooked morsels, now they were fully functional, winged Bean Pods—Peasley's transport of choice. And there were enough for all the Smashers, provided Red's Pokémon boarded with him.

Luigi still looked dazed. He turned to Yoshi. "I'm a-sorry…but what's a-going on? How did you all escape a-the Heartless?"

"Yoshi!" the dinosaur replied, meaning, "We'll explain it on the way."

* * *

The southeastern parts of the Beanbean Kingdom, in spite of the arctic nature of Joke's End, were generally tropical. The Smashers flew past the sea of ice chunks and over the sunny Oho Ocean, with Oho Oasis to the west. Luigi and Prince Peasley were brought up to speed while Kirby maneuvered his Bean Pod like a Warpstar, accelerating and swerving and loop-de-looping with practiced ease and delight. DK, Red, Yoshi, and Link were rather less stable, but the Bean Pods did seem to self-direct themselves to a degree, so thankfully no one fell a hundred feet into the water.

They passed over a large complex of dark red buildings with a clock face on the front—an establishment known as Woohoo Hooniversity, where the science of laughter was studied. Finally, they reached the outermost edge of the Beanbean Kingdom, a stretch of sandspits reaching out into the ocean known as Gwarhar Lagoon. Peasley directed them to land on one of the sandbanks nearest the border where the lagoon transitioned to the region of the Mushroom Kingdom known as Koopa Beach. They stepped off their Bean Pods (or in DK's case, stumbled) and gathered around the Beanbean prince.

Peasley looked at them all fondly. "It is my deepest regret, comrades, that I'm disallowed from continuing with you on your quest. I've never known braver heroes than the Smash Brothers, and there has never been a cause as noble as yours. As you well know, Luigi, you will find the Mushroom Kingdom due south of here; perhaps you should find a place to rest along the way which is rather less populous. Please, give my regards to Mario and the princess…and know that I shall be here to aid you in whatever capacity I am able. Until we and our peoples are free from the bonds of the Heartless, when perhaps we may fight as one once more, I must bid you all farewell."

Luigi and Peasley embraced.

"Stay a-safe," Luigi said.

Peasley laughed. "What a horrible way to live! But fear not; I shall remain, as some of Nintendo's more technologically inclined kingdoms would call it, 'under the radar.' Now make haste! Your destiny awaits, and you must sally on to adventure."

With that, Prince Peasley gave them a generous variety of different kinds of magic Beans, reboarded his Bean Pod, and sped away, leaving the party of eight to face the Mushroom Kingdom. Luigi, whose land it was, now took charge, trying to act more confident than he felt. It was all rather mind-blowing—the crashing of the wedding; the loss of This World's innocence; the elapse of three awful years; and the imposing tasks that lay before them. Not to mention the fact that he didn't know how long it would be before he could see April again, nor did he know whether she was safe—even in her own home. Even from her own father.

They flew on over Koopa Beach, which was appropriately populated by Koopas of various shell colors, along with some rather picturesque capes and interesting giant Koopa shells. Unfortunately, the Mushroom Kingdom was virtually impossible to traverse without encountering at least some of its residents, so the Smashers had to brave the cold of soaring through the lowest clouds, peeking down every few minutes to make sure they were still on course.

Then the beach gave way to the legendary expanse of Dry Dry Desert—a vast, barren land crawling with Bandits and Pokeys and mysterious oases and ruins. The air grew significantly hotter, making the high altitude a bit more bearable for thinly insulated travelers like Link and Red. Here also, the inhabitants were sparse and wild enough that the Smashers didn't have to conceal themselves in the clouds quite so often.

The desert transitioned to the rocky rolling slopes of Gusty Gulch, and then the dark, dense conifers of the Forever Forest, both of which were known to be haunted by Boos and infested with violence-prone Clubbas. Luigi, having heard of Mario's misadventures here, urged them to move on, even though they had now been flying for hours and were all hungry and tired. So they drew out their journey for another long hour until finally, they came to the Flower Fields, which led to the Donut Plains and then eventually, far in the distance, Toad Town and Princess Peach's Castle.

After finding a small knoll free of deceptively dangerous Crayzee Dayzees—which were cute flower creatures that skipped and hopped and smiled, but could nearly sing you to death—Luigi did his best to put together a game plan with the help of the rest. His knowledge of the Mushroom Kingdom's inner workings the past three years was quite limited because he'd spent most of that time in the Beanbean Kingdom and Subcon. All he knew was that Peach's Castle was under the Forger's regime, the princess serving as a mere figurehead, Bowser as captain of the guard (his castle had been appropriated by the Forger), and Mario as a special asset used to execute special discipline upon anyone in the kingdom who attempted to disrupt the order.

"It's a-gonna be hard," Luigi said, "but possible, especially because our only goal for a-now is to get a-Mario."

"So you don't think we'll find him in his house near Toad Town?" Yoshi said.

"I don't a-think so. He and a-Bowser are always on call to take a-missions for the Forger. Ever since the wedding, they've both been a-looking for a fight wherever they a-go. It's a-strange…that the Heartless affected them a-both in the same ways."

"So we find him in the castle, then," Link said. "How's security? Whenever I came here for the Smash Tournaments, it was only guarded by a few Toads here and there."

"That's a-changed, too. But I haven't a-been there enough to know who the Forger is or what his minions look a-like."

"So how do we get in without wasting a ton of Time Flutes to purge all the guards?" Red asked.

"Poyo!"

They watched as Kirby ran blissfully through the fields of flowers, chasing butterflies and inadvertently tearing tulips and sunflowers from their roots in his attempts to catch them in his mouth.

"I think," Yoshi said, "I have an idea."

* * *

The two Koopatrols and two Toads guarding the big red front doors of the castle looked out at the expansive green front lawn. All was quiet; all was still. And, for a guard during Xehanort's peaceful reign, all was excruciatingly boring. These days, no one came to the castle unannounced, and currently no one was expected until the Heartless came for their weekly inspection next week.

What was their surprise, then, when they spotted a single figure approaching them from the Donut Plains. Nay—it was a man mounted on a steed of some kind. Nay—it was Luigi himself, riding Yoshi straight up to their doors. But despite the familiar face, they were still required to bar him from entering until they'd asked the procedural verification questions.

"Halt!" one of the Toads said. Luigi complied, dismounting Yoshi and stopping before the guards. "Your visit wasn't on the agenda, Luigi; what brings you here?"

Luigi kept an impressively straight face. "I have an important a-message for the princess."

One of the Koopatrols leaned forward, eyeing him suspiciously through his helmet. "Give your message to us, then, and we'll relay it to her."

But Luigi shook his head. "It's top a-secret; I've a-come directly from Xehanort. So unless you want to explain to _him_ why his a-business was interrupted, I suggest you let us through."

The guards gulped and glanced at each other. Xehanort almost never left Castle Oblivion; the Forger himself visited rarely, and he was terrifying enough. They couldn't even imagine what the Vassal's master would be like, and they didn't want to find out.

"You're clear to go in," the Toad announced, stepping aside with the other guards and raising his spear as Luigi and Yoshi nodded to them and went inside. And then as they entered, he called after them, "By the way, the princess is between meetings, so she probably won't be in the throne room right now; you can try her personal chamber, though."

Before the doors slammed shut, DK, Link, and Red—rendered unnoticeable through the consumption of Prince Peasley's Invisi Beans—slunk inside after their very visible forerunners.

The entrance hall was crawling with high-ranking Toads, and Koopatrols, and…what looked like giant, bipedal drill bits with yellow goggle eyes. Luigi and Yoshi found themselves staring at the strange beings; there was something vaguely familiar about them, but they couldn't pinpoint from where.

In any case, they proceeded up the staircase, through the next pair of doors, and down the next hallway unchallenged, although they received many surprised looks along the way. Luigi was confused; although he didn't come here often and usually came with a specific appointment, he couldn't understand why he was experiencing such a cold reception this time.

As they went down corridors and up staircases, DK sometimes had to grab Link and Red and swing himself up chandeliers or around wooden beams to avoid accidental collisions with the castle's occupants. Although it was physically more difficult for him than for Luigi and Yoshi, he felt grateful not to be the one under scrutiny in this Heartless environment.

Luigi and Yoshi went around another red-carpeted corridor and nearly walked straight into Bowser.

"Whoa; where do you think you're going, Green 'Stache?"

The giant reptile's eyes burned with dislike as he leaned forward, the hot steam of his nostrils blowing on Luigi's face.

"Uh…" Luigi subconsciously fidgeted with his collar. He tried to puff out his chest and assume a strong posture. "I'm a-bringing a message to the princess; Xehanort's instructions were to bring it directly to her."

"Really?" Bowser's contempt was almost tangible. "A couple things: First, what's in the bag if all you're delivering is a message?"

"Bag? Oh, this?" Luigi glanced at the bag slung over Yoshi's saddle, bulging like a half-deflated basketball. He grabbed it and offered it to Bowser. "See for your-a-self."

"Hmph." Bowser snatched the bag and poured its contents into his claws. But it was just a particularly large sunflower head, its bright yellow pedals and fuzzy brown center completely and utterly unremarkable.

"For the princess's a-favor," Luigi explained.

"Fine." Bowser handed the flower and the bag back. Then he jabbed a clawed finger at Yoshi. "Now the other thing: Are you aware that this Yoshi is wanted by Xehanort throughout all of Nintendo? What are you doing bringing him here instead of giving him to the Heartless?"

Luigi swallowed as silently as he could. "Right. I, uh, I was told to bring the prisoner to the castle first for a-punishment and a-questioning."

Bowser narrowed his eyes. "If he's your prisoner, then why isn't he chained?"

 _Not good,_ Luigi thought. His eyes shifted ever so slightly to his peripherals, and he stared at a blank space of wall, hoping he was facing the right spot, and gave the signal: a single mustache twitch.

"That's it; you and that Yoshi are coming with me, punk. the Forger can deal with you!" Bowser reached out and grabbed Luigi with his huge claw like a frightened, helpless churro.

"Jiiii-galee-ee-puff…Jigaaaa-leeee-ee-ee-puuuff…"

The unseen Sing attack caused Bowser to loosen his grip, his eyes to droop, and his huge body to collapse, all within about fifteen seconds. Luigi and Yoshi stepped carefully around the snoring Koopa King, and the former whispered to the seemingly empty corridor.

"Thank a-you."

A whispered "Puff!" acknowledged the plumber's gratitude. Yoshi, meanwhile, had pulled out a Rainbow Egg—like the one he had offered to Joanna Dark in Wizpig's Palace to trace the RareWare symbol on the wall—and was using one of its colorful palettes to smear all over his green body. If he was a wanted criminal, he figured a skin change would be helpful. Two minutes later, Luigi and a cotton candy pink Yoshi were moving on and up toward Peach's bedroom. A few minutes after that, they found themselves in front of her door.

"Well," Luigi said, glancing behind him at his invisible friends, "here goes a-nothing." He knocked three times.

"HOW DARE YOU!"

The door flew open, and a very annoyed Princess Peach stood there, glaring at them. She had undergone a rather dramatic wardrobe change: Her hair was tied up in a stern bun; her face powdered white with extra dark lipstick and mascara; her ears and neck and wrists laden with much more jewelry than she used to wear; and her pink dress replaced with an intimidating dark purple one—a dress that reminded Luigi uncomfortably of Mario's retelling of the Shadow Queen possessing Peach's body.

"What," she seethed, looking Luigi and Yoshi up and down, "could _possibly_ be so important that you had the audacity to disturb me in the middle of my daily self-admiration session?"

"Uh…" Luigi really wished he wasn't the only one here who had to answer all these awkward, probing questions. He grabbed the flower out of the bag and held it out to her. "For a-you. It's a gift to compliment your a-beauty!"

It was like magic. Peach's wrath was instantly replaced with vain pleasure. She snatched the flowed and took a long draft of its sweet aroma.

"A gift befitting your ruler's splendor. My regards, Lui—"

A mouth opened in the center of the sunflower and regurgitated a warm squirt of Dream Water into Peach's face. Kirby's eyes opened around the edges of the brown seed head and he beamed. Though this wasn't strictly a new Copy Ability—he had merely swallowed a sunflower from the Flower Fields and taken on its appearance—it had proven a perfect disguise.

"What's going on here?" boomed a voice from the doorway.

As Princess Peach's heart opened and her expression changed, a group of figures filed into the room, led by Bowser—and Mario. The plumber must have found Bowser asleep and brought reinforcements.

The five figures that followed them in were rather unusual. They had rounded heads and the tubular mouths of Snifits, but their bodies were fully humanoid and composed of metal and machinery—yet they seemed strangely alive, too much to be considered mere robots. One was red, with a defiant expression; the second black with sunglasses; the third lime green with droopy eyes; the fourth goldenrod with a thick build; and the last one a rosy pink with a feminine posture. All of them wielded long-handled axes that matched their bodies.

"I don't know what you did to this Yoshi's skin," Bowser said, "but we're taking him in—and you, too, Green 'Stache!"

"You're in big a-trouble, bro." Mario said, glaring at Luigi, his hands itching for even the slightest justification to start a fight.

The invisible Smashers were ready to fight—even with Mario standing against them. But Kirby acted first.

The sunflower jumped out of Peach's hands, the princess still looking as confused as every other purged Nintendonian. And then he spun in the air like a lawn sprinkler, spraying Dream Water on everyone in the room.

Mario and Bowser underwent the same perplexing process as Peach, then marveled as they took in not only Luigi, Yoshi, and Kirby, but also Link, Red, and DK, whose Invisi Beans had evidently worn off after coming in contact with the magical liquid.

"What the crap?" Bowser growled, summing up the feelings of Mario and Peach as well.

"No time to explain, bro," Luigi said. "We've a-got to get out of here."

"Hold it, Mushroom Munchers!"

The Axem Rangers, who were already unpleasant even without the aid of the Heartless, had blocked the door. Axem Red, who had spoken in a surprisingly human voice for a mechanically smelted android, pointed his axe at Mario.

"Just because our hearts are opened doesn't mean our loyalties've changed; we still serve the Forger: our revived Master Smithy! And none of you Smashers are getting out of here in one piece unless you surrender and face his mighty judgment."

Mario and Luigi grinned at each other and nodded.

"Suit your-a-selves."

Peach's private quarters were much too small for a conflict of this magnitude, which was why it spilled out into the halls as well. Axem Red and Green faced off against Mario and Luigi, Ultra Hammers on axes. Axem Yellow took on DK and Bowser; Axem Pink confronted Peach, Link and Kirby; and Axem Black combatted Yoshi, Red, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff.

Axem Red and Green took their fight out the doorway and down one of the halls, their weapons smashing and slicing the walls as they pushed each other back and forth. Mario took the handle of his hammer in both hands and blocked both axes at once as his brother ducked underneath and executed a Luigi Tornado, scrambling their bodies and coughing them out onto the floor. He followed up with a swift hammer strike to Green's head, while Mario struck Red in the same fashion, leaving the two machinated figures headless.

Axem Yellow, with his dense steel body, was able to push against both bulky opponents at once. He swung his axe horizontally, and Bowser ducked just in time, though the blade clipped one of his horns. The Koopa King roared and unleashed a stream of flames from his mouth, while DK took advantage of the opportunity to roll behind Yellow, grab him around the neck, and use the Axem Ranger's own weight to flip him backwards into the bedroom wall. He then landed a merciless punch to Yellow's head, crushing it like scrap metal.

Axem Black was driving back Yoshi, Red, and the Pokémon by spinning his axe like a propeller, which threatened to mince anything in its path. As Yoshi quickly backed away beside the others, he noticed a large stone statue of a Super Mushroom. With great effort, he drew it into his mouth, did a spin to build momentum, and spat it at Black and his spinning axe. The interloping object caused the weapon to snap in two against it and simultaneously crushed its wielder, while Pikachu contributed with a Headbutt from one side of Black's head and Jigglypuff Mega Kicked it from the other.

Axem Pink danced from atop Peach's bed, blocking the princess's golf club swings and Link's sword swings and Kirby's hammer strikes (he had discarded his sunflower disguise). She pirouetted on one foot, flooring Link with her toe and Peach with the flat end of her weapon. Turning on Peach, she raised her axe for the finishing blow.

"Who's in charge now, sweetie?" she mocked. "As the saying goes…Off with her head!"

But as she brought her axe down, Kirby bounced off the edge of the bed and kicked downward, separating her hands from her weapon. He quickly slurped it up and transformed into Axe Kirby, with a rather comical Viking helmet to compliment his new tool. As he transformed, Peach rose and slammed her hips into Pink with an inexplicable burst of hearts, knocking the enemy onto her back.

"Chop!" Kirby yelled as he severed Pink's metal head from the rest of her body.

Link got back up just in time to see Pink's decapitation and sighed. They hadn't left any of the fun for him.

With the Axem Rangers destroyed, the Smashers all came back into the room, exhausted. Mario took off his cap and wiped sweat from his brow, gratefully looking around at his old friends who had come to his rescue.

Then they heard the sounds of footsteps and cries as soldiers came running to find the source of the commotion.

"Dinner at my a-place?" Mario suggested.

* * *

Twelve unconscious guards later, they all sat around a table in Mario and Luigi's remote, private cottage that was just a Warp Pipe's journey from the edge of Toad Town (though exactly how far a Warp Pipe's journey measures is still unclear). They snacked on Mushrooms and Syrups and leftover Taste T. soups and enjoyed the setting sun and the peace of knowing that at least for now, they were safe.

"So Smithy's the Forger," Luigi said, shaking his head. 'I can't a-believe it."

Mario, Peach, and Bowser, who had all contributed to Smithy's original demise, looked equally sullen.

"L.O.G.'s Memory Paradoxes must've brought him and the Axem Rangers back, just like they did with Junior." Bowser didn't talk much about his son these days, who preferred to spend most of his time on Delfino Island causing mischief.

"Well," Peach said, daintily setting down her cup of tea and still fussing with her horrendous appearance, "thank you all again for freeing us. Though Bowser and I can't leave the Mushroom Kingdom, we'll do all we can to help you find the rest of the Twelve and stop Xehanort."

But Link looked doubtful. "That's just it; I don't know if we'll find any of the other Twelve here—Ness, he's probably back home in Onett; Samus, doing her thing with the Galactic Federation; Fox, out in Lylat; and Captain Falcon…"

He fell silent as they all paid a moment's respect to the fallen Captain. Finally, Red broke the silence.

"We'll find a way to fill his place somehow," Red said with determination. "There's no way that Madame Clairvoya person prophesied about an impossible victory. She was right about the Original 25 and Master Hand, after all."

Link was grateful for Red's encouraging words. And suddenly, he knew what they had to do next.

"It's time for us to find Sora," he said. "The sooner we get him back, the sooner he'll be able to use the Kingdom Key to start taking down these Vassals for good. Then we'll really be able to start doing serious damage to Xehanort's power."

"Agreed," DK said. "Pit can probably help us track him down. But once we know where he is, how will we get there and get out in one piece? I doubt Xehanort'll make it easy for us to rescue the literal key to his defeat."

A huge shadow passed over the windows, completely obscuring their view of the sunset. Several of them yelled, and after a moment's hesitation, Mario indicated for the rest to follow him out the door to confront whatever massive thing had just appeared.

They went outside with swords drawn and fists raised, but all froze as they beheld the floating figure silhouetted against the red-orange sky. Its white fingers curled in and out incessantly, as always.

 _"Link is right,"_ Master Hand's voice boomed. _"And I will show you how to save Sora."_

* * *

 **Hyrule Castle**

* * *

Lord Ganondorf stood on the balcony of the highest ramparts, with his two greatest assets at his side: the Minish man, Vaati…and Princess Zelda, whose face had taken on a darkness that hadn't been there since Ganon had once possessed her body himself. Her dress had deepened to a bloody red, her hair wiry, her eyes a pale gray.

Ganondorf turned to her with a smirk. "They are coming soon," he said. "I sense it…as I'm sure you do. The Smash Brothers are returning to make their last stand."

Zelda said nothing, but the nature of her silence was one of pent-up passion—a brooding passion that could only come out in the form of the darkest kinds of magic. He could tell even from her stone expression that she looked forward to facing the Hero of Legend as much as he did. Vaati, however, wasn't quite as subtle.

"At last I shall prove my worth to Master Xehanort!" he hissed, his red eyes glowing monstrously, his cloak shifting like a bat around him. "When he sees me destroy the Smashers, he will surely make me his newest Vassal—perhaps endowing me with charge over Akaneia."

"Indeed," Ganondorf said, although inside he was thinking, _Don't count on it._ And there a few other things he was thinking about as well.

They stood there in silence, enjoying the shrouded skies and lonely winds and ravaged Castle Town remains as much as the heroes down south were enjoying the beauty of a Mushroom Kingdom Sunset.

Suddenly, Ganondorf turned and headed back toward the castle interior.

"Come," he said. "Let us prepare ourselves; Nintendo's reckoning is at hand."


	14. Chapter 12: The Key to Victory (1)

" _And to think…we used to think of all this as a game."_

 _ **~Princess Zelda**_

* * *

Chapter 12: The Key to Victory

* * *

 **Mario's House**

 **Mushroom Kingdom**

* * *

 **"M** ario…"

Mario sat up in bed and bumped his head on the ceiling, drowsier than a Sleep-Stomped Dry Bones. He looked around his small bedroom—a simply decorated room with wooden floors and square windows with starry blue curtains. The covers on his bed—the top bunk—were a conspicuous fire engine red, while those of Luigi's below were a verdant grassy green. Everything in their house was color-coded in this way, which made it easy to keep track of their belongings (unless one of them suddenly became colorblind one day).

"Wha?"

Mario rubbed his aching head, dazed and confused by the figure he saw at the base of his bed, the slender purple shadows of her body curving up to her bubblegum pink curls and red-and-white witch's hat. The only reason he could see any of this, by the way, was because her body was giving off a faint but luminous _glow_ —as if she were a nightlight that had come to life.

Vivian smiled and spoke softly. "Don't be afraid; I'm not a Boo or anything."

"Vivian…" Mario was finally beginning to register what was going on. "But you're…a ghost?"

"'Ghost' is a relative term," she said, brushing her hair over her shoulder. "Personally, I don't like it; it just sounds so…spooky. Like we're back in Twilight Town with Doopliss running around. Don't worry about me being dead; I'm not here to foretell your death or anything. I just…" She seemed at a brief loss for words. "How are you? With everything?"

Mario wasn't quite sure what to say. "I'm a-well," he said finally. "Except for the bad guys controlling my a-Kingdom, and most of my friends under the Heartless' spell. And a-Smithy…I thought he was a-gone forever. I thought Nintendo had finally found a-peace. But here we are."

Vivian nodded and slunk a little closer, her formless purple matter stretching up until she was nearly level with Mario. She had long outgrown the girly shyness that had once inhibited her. "I know; it's kind of overwhelming, isn't it? You've come so far, stopped so many villains: Bowser; the Shadow Queen; Nightmare; L.O.G….maybe you feel like it'll never end, like you're some kind of piece in someone else's game?"

Few things had ever resonated with Mario's feelings as much as Vivian's statement of pure truth. "If I don't control my a-destiny," he said, "what does?"

Vivian took Mario's hand in both of hers. He knew he couldn't really be feeling it…but it felt so vivid. "The Hand of Fate," she said simply. "You're worried about your destiny, Mario…but it's just so far beyond anything you could ever imagine. You need to stop worrying about the future, and focus on the present. Focus on the ones you love, the ones who are counting on you to be their hero. Me included."

Again, Mario felt unsure of what to say. That it was too late to save her? That he'd already let everyone down by allowing the Heartless to get inside his head? His heart was beating as fast as if he were having a nightmare—but a strangely pleasant, surreal one. "I'm a-sorry I let you down, Vivian. I should never have a-let Fawful—"

"Shhh." Vivian put a finger to his lips. "You know that was my choice; you're a hero worth dying for. I have no regrets—only that I didn't tell you how I felt long ago, even back in our Rogueport days. Even though I always knew you and Peach were meant to be together."

Mario said nothing.

"I just…I just needed you to know that I believe in you; Peach believes in you; all of the Mushroom Kingdom and Nintendo and the universe are safe in your hands, because you can be trusted to always do the right thing."

Images of some of the things he'd done—some of the people he'd attacked as Smithy's asset—flashed across his mind. He shook his head. "Not always."

Vivian squeezed his hand again. Such a tangible illusion. "Don't listen to Xehanort's lies; you and I and all of us have darkness in us, sure…but when we're _really_ at liberty to choose, when there aren't Heartless or abusive sisters hovering over us and compelling us to do bad things, _that's_ what defines us. You don't have a pure heart, Mario; no one does. But you've got something even better: a good one."

"I…" But next thing Mario knew, Vivian was gone. He was alone in the room, save for Luigi's gentle snoring below (the other Smashers had bunked in other areas throughout the house). Suddenly he wished he could have said more to her. His heart ached in a way that was different from when he missed Peach, but still enough to tell him that his feelings about Vivian were anything but imaginary.

* * *

"What's _he_ doing here?"

Pit was not yet privy to the whole Master-Hand-helping-them-stop-Xehanort situation. In three sentences, Link summarized his initial meeting with Master Hand on Koholint so that they could move on to the matter at hand. But despite his ominous presence, Master Hand let the Smash Brothers do most of the talking.

Mario still stared at the floating hand doubtfully. "How do we a-know you really want to help us? What's in it for a-you?"

 _"If I did not, you would already be dead…and Link would never have left Koholint Island in the first place. Your suspicions are understandable, Mario…but pay heed to how you feel. I cannot presently explain to you my motives, and so you must listen to your heart. What does it tell you?"_

Mario said nothing for a long moment. Only then did he realize that underneath his natural distrust of anything that so much as resembled Master Hand, he didn't feel endangered in this being's presence—not even concerned for Peach's safety. That, he supposed, had to mean something. And from the looks on the other Smashers' faces, they seemed to feel similarly. So he nodded and turned to Link.

"Okey-dokey."

"If what you and Master Hand say is true, Pit," Link said, picking up where they had left off, "and this Castle Oblivion is above Hyrule Castle with Sora inside, then we're not going to be able to trick our way in and out like we did here. It'll be a full-on castle-storming—at least, as far as the rest of Peasley's Invisi Beans can take us."

"But you chumps don't have the numbers to invade a fortress like that!" Bowser said. He and Peach were there to support them as far as they could. "You'd need an army to take down all those Heartless…not to mention that traitorous thug Ganon and Xehanort himself."

"Maybe…" Red paused, trying to formulate his thoughts correctly. "Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way. It's not like we're actually gonna put Xehanort down with this attack, right? I mean, we're just jailbreaking Sora, taking down Ganon on our way out if we can, and then moving on."

But Link and Mario shared a meaningful glance. "We'll have the Kingdom Key, though," Link said. "If all of us together can wear Xehanort down just enough, like we did with Cyber K. Rool, then we might be able to end this once and for all, and then all the Vassals will be drained of their pieces of Kingdom Hearts and will be a lot easier to deal with afterward."

"It's a-worth considering," Mario said, trying not to sound too pessimistic.

"Either way…" DK stretched his limbs, which for an ape tended to involve a lot more unconventional movement than most people (such as standing on one hand and pulling a leg toward his head). "How are we getting over there? Where's the nearest portal to Hyrule, Pit?"

Pit frowned. "For some reason, the Mushroom Kingdom's pretty sparse on unguarded portals; I guess all those Warp Pipes and Gadd's artificial ones usually make up for it. The only one that goes to Hyrule at all is in the caved-in tunnels of Dry Dry Ruins—and that one coughs you out into the middle of the Gerudo Desert."

"Suck!" Kirby said.

 _"I will take you there."_

They all turned to Master Hand, whose movements didn't change at all.

"Pika?" Pikachu inquired, meaning, "How are you gonna do that, exactly? Are we all just going to ride on your knuckles?"

 _"No; I will hold onto you. You will be safe. And you will not be seen until the time is right. It is the only way."_

Luigi could think of several other ways, but all of them were much more complicated, much more unpleasant, and involved a much higher risk of them being killed than the one being proposed.

"Let's eh-go," he said reluctantly.

* * *

They were stocked up and ready to leave, carrying supplies Peach had been able to procure from Toad Town. Mario and Luigi stood before Princess Peach and Bowser, rather reluctant to leave their kingdom behind.

"Don't you worry about us," Bowser said. "We'll hold the fort down here; keep up the Heartless charade for Smithy; and then by the time you get back from Hyrule in a couple days, that fiendish Forger won't know what hit 'em."

Peach hugged Mario tightly and kissed him on the cheek. "Get Zelda back too, if you can; once this is all over, we have a long-overdue ceremony to finish. Two angry brides deprived of their wedding night are more dangerous than anything the Heartless can do to us."

Mario nodded. "I a-will."

And with that, each of the Smashers—Link; Yoshi; DK; Red (Pikachu and Jigglypuff inside their Pokéballs); Kirby; Mario; Luigi—climbed onto Master Hand's open palm, each silently wondering how they would all fit, and whether they were walking into a death trap in which they would be crushed and thrown to the ground as soon as they took off. But Master Hand was surprisingly gentle; and as he closed his hands into a firm but non-asphyxiating fist, the seven passengers found the interior illogically spacious, considering Crazy Hand had once carried Zelda by herself without much room to spare. With that, the Hand rose carefully into the air, as if he were carrying a handful of precious antique toys. Peach and Bowser waved as Master Hand sped away like a rocket with the propulsion of his ignited wrist, soaring into the clouds and east toward the ocean, leaving Toad Town and Peach's Castle far behind.

Though space was still somewhat wanting, the inside of the giant flying fist actually felt almost as comfortable as a plane flight. Small cracks between the fingers gave them a limited view of the blurred surface below, which shrank until it became obscured by clouds. The air grew moist and salty as they undoubtedly passed across the eastern shore and over the ocean, giving the mainland a wide berth in case any in the Mushroom or Beanbean Kingdoms, or Hyrule, was watching.

Luigi snacked on a Mushroom to relieve stress while Link and Mario discussed their strategy. He felt somehow more nervous now than he had aboard the WarioWare Ark on the way to invade Microsoft. Maybe it was because there were so few of them, or because there were so many unknown factors, or because they were going up against an enemy they didn't fully understand. Whatever it was, he just had a bad feeling about their mission; it would be a miracle if even a small part of their plan succeeded. The most likely outcome would result in all of them being brainwashed by the Heartless again and returned to their wicked, miserable lives.

The one comforting thought, oddly enough, was that they were with Master Hand. Obviously he wasn't the same Master Hand they had once known; but whoever or whatever he was, he seemed to be on their side—a mysterious force that was invested in their success.

They caught a glimpse every once in a while of the water oscillating below them, the wind whipping through the narrow cracks and allotting them perhaps a little more circulation than they needed. Soon they lost track of time—until finally, the light began to fade, and night fell, and the only light was the full moon reflecting on the rippling waters.

They went in and out of sleeping, and eating, and talking, and those who were awake at the time noticed that they had begun to veer slightly toward the left—and yet the water remained below them for the rest of the night and the next day, which meant that they were rounding the northeastern edge of Nintendo, which was Hyrule. And then, finally, they began to circle over the water, which meant they were nearly there and Master Hand was waiting for the sun to go down as they had agreed. Once dusk had deepened to a midnight blue, their ride took them over the shore and onto dry land.

In spite of himself, Link could appreciate the darkened forms of the Faron Woods below—tall conifers that seemed to stretch out over the curving landscape like a black blanket. Then those curves steepened and became large hills and then mountains, and the treeline gave way to the icy slopes of Snowpeak Mountain. The air was very cold at this point, but Peasley's glowing Insulator Beans kept them relatively warm. Link found himself remembering some of his adventures as the Hero of Twilight—ascending the mountain and racing down it on a frozen leaf against a pair of Yetis called Yeto and Yeta. Those were the days.

Suddenly, the snowy peaks became barren and gave way to the steep escarpments of Death Mountain. Kakariko Village could be seen far below at the mountain's base, sending a chill down Link's spine as he thought of that fateful duel against Ganondorf. As he'd fallen down that well, everything else had gone downhill from there. And his archenemy had been instrumental in paving the way for Xehanort's arrival. But soon, Link would have his chance to claim retribution.

They skirted around the thick smoke of Death Mountain's volcanic peak, an irregular ring of glowing magma scrolling below like a demonic footprint. From the light of the moon and the stars, they could glimpse the wide expanse of Hyrule Field, bordered by Kokiri Forest to the south; the Gerudo Desert; Lake Hylia; and finally Hyrule Castle to the north. But their first look at the castle took all their breaths away.

Hyrule Castle itself appeared more or less the way it had been, although a sort of dark energy seemed to radiate from it even all the way out here—a red glow that reeked of Ganon's evil influence. But ascending from the tallest tower was a winding staircase of luminous turquoise steps which wound their way up toward a sort of mass of violent black clouds, self-contained streaks of lightning threatening all who dared approach it uninvited. Within that swirling mass they would surely find Castle Oblivion. And Sora. And the Kingdom Key—the key to their ultimate victory over Xehanort.

Master Hand bore them low around the rim of Hyrule Field until they were nearly at the drawbridge of Castle Town. Finally, after their roughly two days of travel (they couldn't really tell whether it had been any more or less), they were set down beside the moat, each of them groaning and stretching and regaining their balance after such a long time off of solid ground.

Once they had all disembarked, Master Hand floated back to his usual position and faced them (if disembodied hands are capable of "facing" anything).

 _"This is where I leave you,"_ he said.

"But…" Link found himself strangely disappointed by the Hand's announcement. "Won't you help us fight Xehanort?"

 _"Xehanort cannot know of my involvement,"_ Master Hand said simply. _"It would be better for you to live under his rule than the alternative. But the Hand of Fate has smiled upon you thus far; and I believe it may yet grant you good fortune once again. Farewell, Smash Brothers."_

With that, Master Hand shot away, soon disappearing behind the smoking peak of Death Mountain.

Even out here, the wind from the stormy mass of spiraling clouds above whipped through their clothes and hair as they looked out at Hyrule Castle.

They silently approached the raised drawbridge.

"How do we get through?" DK asked, speaking all of their minds.

As if in answer, a dozen figures burrowed through the earth, forming a ring around them. They were skeletal Wolfos called Stalhounds, with eerily luminous white bodies and glinting fangs and claws and savage scarlet eyes almost as pitiless as the Heartless. And they looked ravenous.

As the Stalhounds prepared to pounce, Link took careful aim and tossed his boomerang, which executed a perfect circle around his enemies, stunning each in turn and moving on to the next like a Dot-to-Dot picture.

With their enemies incapacitated, the other Smashers leapt forward. Pikachu and Jigglypuff burst from their Pokéballs and shattered two skeletons each with Thunderbolt and Rollout, respectively. DK grabbed a pair of Stalhounds and smashed them together like toothpick figurines. Mario and Luigi dismembered four more with Mario and Luigi Tornadoes. Yoshi ate one and spat it out at another, leaving the Smashers standing in a ring of glowing white bones.

Kirby took the opportunity to inhale the Stalhounds' remains, puffed several times until he had both chains holding up the drawbridge lined up in front of him, and spat his mouth's contents out in the form of a large white star, severing the chains in one go. DK quickly moved over and caught the heavy wooden plank with his thick arms before it could collapse with an unfavorably loud crash. Then he slowly lowered it onto the grass and nodded in Kirby's direction.

"Nice one, Gumball."

"Poyo!" Kirby whispered with delight as they all consumed Invisi Beans, waited for the magic legumes to take effect, and stepped quickly but quietly across the drawbridge and into Castle Town.

Link was taken back to one of his most horrid memories: returning to the Castle Town marketplace after being trapped in the Temple of Time for seven years—only to find it completely devoid of life, inhabited only by zombie-like ReDeads.

In a way, this was worse.

He felt a peculiar dread creep up his spine, his hand clenching around his iron sword, needles of fear attempting to pierce his courage from every angle.

Even in the middle of the night, there were Hylians out and about along the cobblestone streets. But they were moving almost as languidly, as inhumanly, as zombie-like as actual ReDeads. As the Smashers tentatively walked past the crowds, Link could see that the Heartless had infected the townspeople with an emotional disease even worse than the greed of Fourside or the idleness of the Yoshis. They were filled with hopelessness. A hopelessness that he had seen only once before: when one of the Heroes of Legend had been too late to return and save Old Hyrule from Ganon and from the deluge which had washed it away into the Great Sea. And that blankness, that permanently bleak expression, was on every face and evident in every person they passed—men; women; children; even dogs and Cuccos. The candlelit streetlamps flickered more like ominous Poes than beacons of hope.

And that wasn't all; scattered among the mindless masses were, in fact, actual ReDeads, wandering around as aimlessly as the rest. Link's eyes widened as he and the others entered the town square, and in place of the fountain was a pile of corpses. He wondered, horrified, how this had come about until he froze at the sight of one of the ReDeads, which had suddenly leapt onto the back of a middle-aged woman, wrapping its rotten arms around her body, and inhaling her life force through its wretched teeth, its blank black eye sockets seeming to rejoice with twisted pleasure, with compulsive hunger. And its victim didn't even attempt to resist.

Yoshi was about to rush to the woman's rescue, but Link held him back, shaking his head. Yoshi's eyes were terrified, and indignant, but he understood. They couldn't help these people if they gave their cover away.

Finally, the woman's corpse was relinquished, and it dropped onto the cobblestones, at which point no one made a move to do anything, as if the disturbance had been as inconsequential as a pigeon pecking at a stray breadcrumb. They didn't even bother stepping around her body, trampling it and staining the stones beneath with red.

Red almost retched, and he knew he wasn't the only one. The stench in the town square was almost unbearable—worse than a room filled with Glooms, Muks, and Weezings. He mostly held his breath during the rest of their torturous trek through town, until the last dilapidated dwelling was behind them and they were on their way up the paved path to the castle.

At first, the torch-lit gate preceding the castle entrance appeared unguarded; but as they approached, they realized that the wall was manned by two of the burliest Heartless they'd ever seen—so black that they blended in with the darkness of the hills and the night sky. Upon further inspection, they each had the appearance of giant, muscular men with claws (what Sora might have compared to a Chernabog), heart-shaped holes in their chests, and heads covered in a Medusa-like mass of black tendrils, their hollow yellow eyes searching for anything out of the ordinary.

Staying out of sight around the corner even though they were invisible, Link turned to the rest. "It's time to split up," he said. "You remember the plan? Mario's group will go up and get Sora, avoiding Xehanort if at all possible, and my group will find Ganondorf down here and hopefully distract him long enough for you to come down with the Keyblade and end him."

Mario nodded. "Let's-a-go!"

Mario broke away with Luigi, Kirby, Yoshi, and Jigglypuff, while Link remained with Pikachu, Red, and DK.

"It's a-time," Mario said, nodding to Yoshi, who pulled out the Blue Koopa Shell (without spikes) they had brought from the Mushroom Kingdom. The dinosaur swallowed it and sprouted wings. Mario and Luigi, in turn, each ingested bronze-colored Feathers, donning yellow capes, while the two Puffballs swallowed Aspiro Beans, which would allow them to keep puffing higher and higher without running out of breath.

As one, they pushed off the ground—not too quickly so that Kirby and Jigglypuff could keep up and so that they wouldn't make much noise midflight. They began ascending at a steep angle toward the turquoise steps winding up into the swirling clouds, glancing down as their friends approached the gate—albeit invisibly.

In spite of the airborne Smashers' invisibility, however, their trip was not a particularly safe one. The closer they drew to Hyrule Castle and the concealed castle hovering above it, dark shapes slipped more and more frequently through the air. Some were amorphous Heartless with spindly wings, while others literally appeared to be giant bats, though they didn't at all resemble the Keese that Mario recalled seeing in the War of the Hands fighting under Ganondorf. Rather, these bats were violet, and cyclopean, and malevolent. Mario felt as if they were all merely extensions of a single consciousness, probes spying for some sinister central source. He sincerely hoped they couldn't see through Invisi Beans with some kind of infrared magic.

Against the buffeting winds of the midnight blue cyclone the five heroes pressed on, narrowly avoiding several unsuspecting Heartless and bat creatures which very nearly flew into them. One bat actually clipped Yoshi's tail, but in the confusion of the gale-force winds, it assumed a nearby Heartless had been the culprit and moved on. The whirlwind grew so strong, however, that the two puffballs eventually had to take refuge on Yoshi's back to avoid being blown away like stray balloons. As icy and oppressive as the wind and the flying monsters were, however, the cyclone's aura of inescapable hopelessness was by far the greatest obstacle to overcome. Yoshi had to fill his mind with rainbows and Heart Fruit, while the Mario Brothers thought of Peach and April, and Kirby and Jigglypuff took comfort in each other's company. Still, the negativity of the Heartless seemed to slowly drain away their willpower, and they knew if they didn't hurry, they would give up and simply drop out of the sky.

At last, they landed on the odd translucent steps, which felt like hollow glass under their feet, and they looked into the swirling clouds.

"Up!" Kirby urged, leading the way up the stairs and disappearing into the unnatural atmosphere. Jigglypuff followed soon after, and then the rest, vanishing as if consumed by the darkness.

* * *

The two bulky Heartless—known as Darksides—swept their empty gazes across the path leading up to their gate. Nothing. But they didn't care; they didn't care about anything. They only followed their instinct to attack anyone or anything with a heart intact.

One of the Darksides exploded as it suffered the direct hit of a sourceless Bomb Arrow. The other one perked up and searched for the culprit, but it saw nothing. So it figured it would just attack the entire road for good measure. It summoned a large orb of black energy and lobbed it over the top of the gate. The seething sphere split up into dozens of smaller ones which rained upon the pathway like fire from heaven—or from the other place.

Pikachu's Light Screen gave their position away, but it protected them from the Heartless hailstorm. The Darkside immediately leapt off the gate, its claws raking down through the air toward the translucent blue barrier.

But instead of shredding through flesh, its body met with DK's fist, which tore it apart into a dusty black haze. The four intruders walked through the corruptive particles unhindered, for all of them had taken a sip of Dream Water beforehand to ensure none of them were corrupted by the Heartless anew.

"Nicely done, guys," Red said as DK pounded the iron gate until it fell through, and they proceeded up the rest of the path to the front doors. Colonies of smaller Heartless, sensing the commotion at the gate, were now swarming down the gentle hills on either side, sweeping the path blindly in hopes of intercepting the strangers.

The four Smashers charged forward, and as Heartless began to cross their path, they sliced, shocked, shoved, and somersaulted their way through the mindless creatures until they had reached the front doors, which were guarded by two more Darksides. Link dove forward and drove his sword through one, while Red gave Pikachu a boost by throwing him straight into the other like a football. Both enemies were promptly disintegrated. DK grabbed ahold of the thick wooden door handle and pulled. With a grunt, he managed to heave it open and allow the other three to pass inside, followed by himself.

* * *

Castle Oblivion was a mind-bending, nightmarish sight. It was like a Gothic cathedral had been blended in a kaleidoscope with a British clock tower and a Transylvanian castle. With the backdrop of midnight blue currents cycling around them, Mario and the others stepped off the top of the turquoise stairs and along a narrow red rock trail toward the convoluted castle. The building featured mustard yellow walls of stone embellished with gilded Heartless and Nobody symbols. Bright, similarly shaped windows lined the upper levels of each intricate façade. Spidery buttresses held different segments of the castle together, all of which were topped with arrow-pointed roofs that matched the staircase. The strangest thing, however, was that there were also roofs extending perpendicular to the castle walls, and the complex of crisscrossing towers and illogical roofs gave it a sense of highest fantasy—albeit a rather unsettling one.

"Jiggly," Jigglypuff commented, which meant something along the lines of, "Well, that isn't something you see every day."

Kirby, however, barely even paused to glance at it. He was used to people and places as strange as this, if not stranger. He moved on with casual curiosity, feeling small but also resolute, and paused to glance back at the others.

"Sora!" he urged.

They passed by jagged protrusions of purple rock which stuck haphazardly out of the lavender path, as if they were giant claws waiting to close around their prey. The journey up to the gold sapphire-trimmed doors was surprisingly uneventful; the Heartless appeared more intent on continuing their endless orbit through the lightning-streaked torrents than on searching for invisible trespassers.

The five Smashers reached the doors and hesitated. Here they were. Xehanort could be waiting for them just on the other side of this door.

Mario and Luigi grabbed the handles of each door and pulled together. The doors swung open with well-lubricated ease, admitting them almost silently into the castle.

The interior was almost pure white, with alabaster staircases leading in several directions in about as confusing a complex as the roofs and towers on the exterior. No one else was in the entrance hall, but the heroes became privy to a startling fact.

"We're a-not invisible anymore," Luigi said, inspecting himself and for once unhappy to be able to see his brother.

"Where do we go from here?" Yoshi said, his mind boggled by the intricate layout.

Mario stroked his mustache thoughtfully. "He's a-bound to be in a dungeon of some kind. Let's a-go down those stairs and work from there."

Accordingly, they proceeded down a winding flight on the right side of the room, oblivious to and apprehensive about what they might find below. Stepping as softly as they could, they came out into a long white-tiled hallway, already "underground," with no windows to give them any sense of where they were. One level down and they already felt disoriented.

Unfortunately, this particular hallway was not empty. A quintet of pale Nobodies barred the Smashers' way to the next downward flight at the far end. And this time, there was no invisibility to protect them.

Though apparently blind, the Nobodies sensed the newcomers' presence immediately and formed a wall of pointed limbs and black teeth which began moving steadily toward their targets.

Yoshi, thinking quickly, suggested a strategy to the others, who agreed—if only because there wasn't any time to argue. He took a couple steps forward and encased himself in an egg, while Kirby and Jigglypuff lined up beside him, already the ideal shape for the rather sporting technique Yoshi had in mind.

Mario and Luigi drew their hammers and raised them back, hoped this wouldn't hurt their friends as much as it hurt their enemies, and swung the heavy tools like golf clubs, each striking Kirby or Jigglypuff.

The Nobodies were knocked over like bowling pins as the pink pinballs sped into them. But the slender creatures were also hardier than the average Heartless, so they were soon back on their feet and lunging toward Mario and Luigi—that is, until both plumbers struck the Yoshi egg at the same time, taking them all down in one go.

Even that, however, might not have been enough, had Kirby and Jigglypuff not allowed themselves to bounce off the walls at the far end and then return like Pong balls, sandwiching the Nobodies between themselves and the Yoshi egg and finally causing them to crumble into white dust—which fortunately did not evaporate into the air and cause any unpleasant side effects.

The three living projectiles, dizzy from their ride, took a moment to reorient themselves, and then they were on their way once more.

They went down another winding staircase, their footsteps echoing through the eerily silent passage. The simple but elegant architecture struck Luigi as having a quaint sort of beauty—the kind that sent chills down his spine whenever he would enter an unexplored room in his once-haunted mansion.

Finally, they came out into a wider rectangular chamber lined with grooved marble pillars and intricate diamond patterns. The door at the other end was wrought of black iron—with a large engraving which resembled a Keyblade.

Mario and his companions would have celebrated their discovery, for this was surely the door through which they would find Sora—but they didn't because they were too concerned with the room's other occupants.

It was Princess Zelda, her dark red dress and pale gray eyes marking her darkened state perhaps more clearly than anyone else the Smashers had encountered. Beside her were three others: a girl in a loose scarlet garment with a long brown tress of hair; Marth, his noble features hardened into a cold mask; and Roy, the usual innocence in his demeanor replaced with an angry jealousy—though of what, it was anyone's guess.

Swords and eggs were drawn. Magic and fire sparked at fingertips. Kirby and Jigglypuff poised their round bodies in preparation for a fight.

"This is where your adventure ends." It was Zelda's voice, but not the Zelda they had known. "You will never stop Xehanort; and once the Heartless have overwhelmed you again, you won't even want to."

Mario narrowed his eyes, surprised to see the three Akanaeians here. He didn't know Linde, the new head mage at the School of Magic, but he'd heard of her replacing Gotoh. "This isn't a-you…any of you. We're not a-gonna fight you; we're gonna set you free."

Yoshi pulled out the small bag with the Time Flutes they had been apportioned, the rest remaining with Link. He made to take one out…and then watched in dismay as the entire bag—its contents included—burst into flames and crumbled to ash in his hands. Zelda had used Din's Fire to destroy the flutes.

"Mama mía…" Luigi felt his heart drop as their most valuable resource was incinerated. Then he narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists and glared back at those barring their way from rescuing Sora. "I guess we'll a-do it the hard way, then."

Zelda smiled wickedly—a smile similar to when she had been briefly possessed by the Shadow Queen in the Battlefields. "Good luck."

And then they charged at each other, and the fight began.


	15. Chapter 12: The Key to Victory (2)

The inside of Hyrule Castle was almost exactly as Link remembered it, minus the wedding decorations. But that fact—the bright red-carpeted hallways; the eagle-shaped wall torches; the Triforce-patterned walls and tiles; even the statues of past Hylian rulers and Heroes of Legend—somehow made his return even harder to handle. It was as if he'd just been snatched out of time for three years and then thrust back in, except the world no longer had need of him.

 _Why did Ganondorf leave everything the way it was?_

Unfortunately, their Invisi Beans seemed to have expired upon entering the castle, so the four Smashers moved cautiously through hallways and up and down staircases, making their way toward the throne room.

They fought their way past the occasional cluster of small Heartless, but the castle was poorly guarded to the point of suspicion—and part of Link suspected that Ganondorf had somehow known he was coming. Were they all walking to their deaths—or worse, to having their hearts darkened once more?

There weren't even any Hylian guards prowling the larger reception halls or the courtyard—just Heartless that seemed to have nothing better to do than wander aimlessly through the castle. As they passed the stained-glass windows through which he and the princess had first seen Ganondorf as children, Link felt a rush of nostalgia, felt his younger incarnation longing for the simple, happy times—even if those times were occasionally interrupted by demon masks or murderous moons. At least then, he hadn't doubted his own motives like he did now. He led Red, Pikachu, and DK up to the final door to the throne room, put a hand on the brass knob, and hesitated. What was he really here for? To give Mario and the others time to find Sora? Or to settle a personal vendetta? Was he really any better of a person without the Heartless if he still allowed such impulses to control his actions?

Red put a hand on the knob as well and gave him a reassuring look. "We all stand behind you. Are you ready?"

Link paused, and glanced around at his friends: Red's determined expression; Pikachu's cheeks sparking with positive energy; and DK's confident simian posture. None of them doubting the worthiness of their mission for a second.

Link nodded. "Here we go."

He opened the door and they stepped inside.

Apparently the one change Ganondorf had made was moving his organ into the throne room. The throne itself wasn't even there; the royal blue banners and purple tapestries and spotless red carpet led up a few spaced steps to the platform from which King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule had once reigned justly—until he was assassinated by a certain desert prince.

And standing in front of the organ, facing away from them, was a tall, dark-skinned man with striking red hair, wearing an umber-colored tunic with shoulder armor and a black cape. His fingers moved almost whimsically as he played a vibrant piece full of runs and arpeggios and minor scales—the same piece he'd played before facing the Hero of Time. But as they entered, the door slamming shut behind them of its own accord, he didn't turn around, or even stop playing.

Link drew his sword, eons of hate welling up within him. He stepped forward.

 _"GANON!"_

The music stopped. Ganondorf slowly turned around, an unreadable smile on his face. He didn't draw any weapons.

"I taught myself to play the organ during my seven-year reign. You heroes think you're the only ones who can appreciate good music…but as usual, you fail to see the big picture."

A chilling rustle caused them to spin around to find the door slamming shut behind them, a purple-cloaked figure blocking their escape. Vaati lowered his hood and laughed a laugh that sounded like the screech of a bat played at a lower frequency. He fixed Link with his bloodthirsty eyes, his pale lavender skin complemented by his slightly darker lavender hair.

"Long time no see, Hero of the Minish. You've done away with the traditional green, I see…You've chosen to die as much a pauper as the rest of your people, then?"

In spite of himself, Link laughed. "Vaati? Surely Xehanort isn't so strapped for help these days that he's stooped to relying on _you._ "

Vaati's eyes flared with anger. "The only ones short of help are you and your daydreaming friends. And you're about to feel that loneliness in a most painful way."

The four heroes had now backed up toward one of the sides so they could see both villains at once. They were sandwiched; this wasn't good.

"Enough." Ganondorf began charging up a ball of crackling white energy, pushing his dark power into the sphere until it was larger than a beach ball. "It's time, Link, for you to experience true power."

He yelled and thrust the energy sphere forward. Link prepared to slash his sword and reflect it back, although without the Master Sword, he was rather concerned whether it would work. He took a stand and raised his weapon…

…and watched as the ball sailed clear over his, Red's, Pikachu's, and DK's heads, straight into Vaati, who screamed as the blast shocked him and left him in a smoking, motionless heap on the floor.

Link and the others looked back at Ganondorf with profound confusion. What had just happened?

Ganondorf laughed, and for the first time, Link noticed that his eyes were much lighter than they had been before—a light gray which he had caught a glimpse of before being pushed into the well in Kakariko Village.

"Make no mistake, kid…you repulse me—with your self-righteous ego and the Hylians' repeated marginalization of my race. And just your irritatingly cheap ways of thwarting me…time after time. But yes: I am, at least for today, on your side. Xehanort must be stopped."

"But…" Link was still in too much shock to think coherently. "You…you brought Xehanort here; you sent me to my death down that well…and you've been serving as Xehanort's Vassal for three years."

Ganondorf began stepping down toward them, and though Link did not exactly feel comfortable, for the first time in any of his lives, he didn't feel threatened by him. The man stopped just a few yards short of him and the others.

"Tell me…how much do all those heroes inside your head actually know about the Demon King?"

"I…" Link sifted through his numerous memories, picking out every piece regarding Ganon he could recall. "You're a man on the outside, but on the inside you're Ganon—the reincarnation of the demon Demise, the one who swore to plague the Heroes and Princesses of Hyrule for all eternity. Every time I've beaten you, I've driven it away…but it always comes back from a different angle to try to kill me; to overthrow the royal line; and to absorb the power of the Triforce."

Ganondorf smirked. "Not bad, kid. But you've left out one key detail: The Demon King—Demise; Ganon; or whatever else you may call him— _isn't me._ I am Ganondorf, the man who played host to the Demon and thrived on its power in every age—only to fall to you…every time. I never seemed to learn my lesson because whenever I was reincarnated, my memories of our past battles would be wiped away. But once my memories were merged with all who came before—as, I understand, happened to you and Zelda as well—I realized the terrible truth: I was doomed to fail. Forever.

"But I couldn't live with that…no, I decided I would be master of my own fate, that I wouldn't let anything or anyone control who I was. So I confronted the Demon; I fought it; and it thought it had conquered me. Yet even with its ageless experience, it failed to realize another truth: that nothing… _nothing_ …can force a man to make of his own heart anything but what he wants it to be. Even as my soul lay, dying, the Triforce of Power reminded me that I always have ultimate control over what I am inside. It gave me the strength to rise from the torment Demise had caused me; to catch him off guard; to subdue him under my will; and to trap him where he would never get out unless I released him myself. And so Ganondorf the man separated himself from Ganon the soul of the demon."

Ganondorf's triumphant expression grew somber. "Unfortunately, heroes, by then I had already made a pact with Xehanort to usher in his entrance into the Smash Universe. You ask why I've done the things I've done...it is because even if I had done nothing to aid him, Xehanort would still have come. Nothing could have prevented his arrival; but I knew I could put myself in a favorable position when he did, and that would create the opportunity for future retribution. So I went along with his scheme; I played my part; and I gained Xehanort's permission to deal with you personally, kid, because everyone else would very quickly fall under the Heartless' control." Something flickered behind Ganondorf's eyes—like a flame, but an almost…encouraging one. "So tell me, Link…how did the Like-Like portal suit you?"

Link's mind did a turn, plus a 1080° spin followed by a triple kickflip. It all made sense now: Ganondorf had pretended to kill him in Kakariko Village and had reported it to Xehanort as such, but in reality he had saved Link's life by throwing him into that well, where the Like-Like itself was a portal that took him to the dreamlike world of Koholint Island—a world outside of the one that was about to be darkened.

But still. This was _Ganondorf._ And now Link was supposed to believe that he was…if not good…then at least an ally? They hadn't been at each other's throats during most of the War of the Hands, it was true; but that had been different. Now, there seemed to be a sense of permanence—a sense of change in Ganondorf's very nature. And if Link hadn't just seen him stop Vaati, if all the pieces hadn't fit together so perfectly, he would never have believed it.

All he could say was, "So now what?"

The dark mirth in Ganondorf's eyes subsided. He glanced at DK, Red, and Pikachu. "Now you must all come with me. It is too dangerous here, so close to the center of Xehanort's power. I will lead you to Sora, and then I have arranged transport to take you from Castle Oblivion out of Xehanort's immediate reach."

"But…what about you?" Red said. He referred to the elephant in the room: the fact that Ganondorf would presumably be unable to leave Hyrule, meaning he would be left to explain himself to Xehanort or else face his wrath alone.

Ganondorf grinned. He held out his arm, and the long obsidian Keyblade that was a hybrid of Demise's sword materialized in his hand. "The Disney boy is not the only one with a Keyblade. If all goes well, Xehanort will be dead and gone soon after you have left, and then we will regroup and plan how to dispose of the rest of his wretched Vassals."

DK, who wasn't particularly invested in Ganondorf's welfare, but was very invested in finding Sora so they could defeat Cyber K. Rool for good and turn his family back to normal, was the first to respond. "Sounds like a plan. Let's do this thing."

Link, still more or less speechless, merely followed the others as Ganondorf led them back out of the throne room and then up several staircases, easily disposing of any Heartless that crossed their path as they made their way toward the tallest tower. From there, they could ascend the spiraling turquoise stairs to Castle Oblivion.

They said little as they went on, but Link's mind was filled with undefined emotions and questions. If Ganondorf was no longer evil, what would this mean for Hyrule? Would they finally be free from the cycle of the Demon King's rebirths with Demise locked away inside Ganondorf's soul? Would the Hylians and Gerudos be reconciled, and—unthinkably—would Ganondorf become a respectable dignitary? The three pieces of the Triforce would no longer be at odds, but would act in unity for the welfare of the kingdom. It was all rather hard to imagine—and yet very possibly within their grasp. If they could just fight through Xehanort's world of Heartless and bring everything back to normal, then the future looked unusually bright.

At length, they ascended the last long twisting flight that would take them up to the interior of the tower connected to Castle Oblivion. Ganondorf flung open the door to the tower room, took two steps, and froze, Link and the rest almost running into him from behind.

The tower was a flat, circular room whose floor and walls were hewn of stone blocks, out of which square holes had been cut around the perimeter so that marksmen could shoot arrows in relative safety. An opening on the far end led out to the exterior battlements of the conical structure, which linked the green-tiled roof with the turquoise stairs. But their way out was blocked, this time by a single, initially diminutive-looking figure.

Xehanort.

* * *

Mario and Luigi headed off Marth and Roy; today, their Ultra Hammers were clashing against swords rather than axes. But those swords being the Falchion and the Binding Blade, and their wielders being the champion warriors of Akaneia and Elibe, this was to be no walk in the park.

"Wah!" Luigi had to discard his hat as a trailing flicker from Roy's sword caught it aflame. This was the second hat he'd lost since joining the Smash Brothers—the first falling casualty to the Dimensional Conflux through a series of unlikely and unfortunate circumstances. He narrowed his eyes. He liked that hat.

Luigi dodged a vertical swipe, bounced up to the white ceiling, and pushed off with his hammer to land a hard kick to Roy's head, temporarily forgetting that the two of them were, in fact, friends. He followed up with a low sweeping kick to knock Roy to the ground, and then did a sort of clumsy piledriver onto Roy's chest. The boy angrily waved the Binding Blade, but Luigi was too close to be within slicing distance—although he _was_ far enough to be within butt-singeing distance. Luigi yelped and did a backflip off of Roy as the boy jumped to his feet and came at him for more.

Mario had an even harder time, for the Falchion was just so long that it was all he could do to avoid being dismembered by it even from a distance. He suffered three nasty gashes before he finally managed to use the edge of the sword as a springboard to punch Marth in the stomach. He then directed his punch upward, pushing the swordsman into the air several times in quick succession and collecting a spontaneous Coin with each hit. At the end, Marth's body slammed into the ceiling and crashed to the diamond-tiled floor.

Mario tipped his cap. "It's nothing a-personal; you're just a-brainwashed, my fr—"

Marth came back at him with a pompous rage, made even more dangerous by his injured ego.

Yoshi struggled to evade Linde's projectile blasts of fire, ice, and wind magic. He countered with an egg here and there, but the young mage was much stronger than she looked. She caused the individual egg shards to freeze in midair, then redirected them at their originator. Yoshi yelped as a few of them penetrated his skin even as he dived out of the way.

Linde paused for a second to concentrate, then lifted both hands as if signaling for a choir to rise. But instead of a chorus, jagged columns of rock burst through the marble flooring, apparently prioritizing Yoshi's defeat above real estate considerations.

Yoshi yelped again as one piece of earth emerged after another, some with flat surfaces, others with pointed tips, all of them deadly. He hopped to the side, but another rose and threw him off balance; he only just managed to stay on his feet by using his tail to reestablish his physical equilibrium. Then the rocky pillars started rising in front of him, and he had no choice but to jump onto one and hop across them like many a Mario Party mini-game—only, the consequence for losing this one would be more than conceding ten Coins to his rivals.

Finally, he reached a protrusion high and close enough to Linde that he could bound off the edge and perform a Ground Pound, plummeting straight through her jet of water magic, which didn't have enough knockback to stop him from flooring her with one heavy hit. But as he was about to celebrate, he felt an uncomfortable tingling beneath his feet, and before he could react, Linde's electric magic zapped him away to a distance from which it would be, once again, anyone's game.

That left the puffball pair to take on Princess Zelda. Right off the bat, Kirby inhaled his partner, adopting her capabilities, and they danced around her, rising or falling to escape Zelda's magic sparks. First one slap from once side, then another from the other, and soon they were Double-Slapping her back and forth like a tetherball.

The sapphire prism of Nayru's Love caught both Smashers in an abrupt wave of tiny glass shards, tossing them around a few times before expelling them both across the room. Kirby threw his body in front of Jigglypuff's to soften her fall, taking the brunt of the hit.

"Puff!" she said gratefully, helping him up, then narrowing her eyes at Zelda. She didn't even have to speak any words to communicate her current feelings: "I know you're not yourself, but I'm not gonna let that slide!"

"Plan?" Kirby suggested. Jigglypuff smiled, and nodded.

They separated and came at Zelda from opposite directions. A Light Arrow streaked toward Kirby, who swiftly transformed into a small Thwomp to deflect the attack. Jigglypuff pushed off the ground, and then as she floated down…fell asleep.

Zelda, arms raised to block the Pokémon, lowered them in confusion, briefly taken aback by the awfully calculated Rest attack. Jigglypuff was a sitting duck, unable to wake for several more seconds. The darkened princess brought her arms back and then forward, intent on unleashing a devastating burst of magic that would surely take Jigglypuff out of the picture.

The spray of Dream Water drenched the back of her head, bringing her crusade to an end. Kirby had honed his targeted sucking abilities to the point where he could vacuum a bottle straight out of Mario's overalls, then kick through the glass, sending water all across the room—not just upon Zelda, but upon Linde, Marth, and Roy as well.

The fight was suddenly over, for that single sprinkling had made temporary foes into friends once again. Of course, Zelda and the Akanaeians were experiencing the same post-Heartless shock everyone else had undergone. The former's dull gray eyes quickly reshaded to their normal vibrant green.

Mario approached Zelda, touching her lightly on the arm. "We don't have a-time to explain everything; but we need to free Sora and then go down to Hyrule a-Castle to find Link and the others."

Zelda, still very dazed and confused, nodded slowly and turned to Linde. "Our combined magic should break though."

"Only one way to find out," Linde said.

While Marth and Roy reoriented themselves to their near-forgotten reality, the princess and the mage squared off against the dark iron door and closed their eyes in concentration. Zelda's magic, being drawn exclusively from the Triforce of Wisdom and her connection with the goddess Hylia, felt to those watching like a display of divine strength, a sacred stewardship made manifest in blue and white sparks which streamed from her hands into the door like well-organized Fairies. Linde's magic, on the other hand, were composed of more traditional spells which obeyed the same Akaneian laws that governed the powers of all mages, Manaketes, and even evildoers. Her stream of vermillion energy seemed to pierce the door like an ultra-concentrated solar flare.

Both magics combined in a brilliant display for at least a full minute, and for a moment everyone worried that the attempt would fail. But finally, the door succumbed to the streams of energy and fell in on itself, permitting them entrance into the Chamber of Waking.

It was a white circular room with a lavender gradient running up the walls, the same Keyblade symbol repeated around the perimeter like a quaint wallpaper design. Strangely, the walls gave the optical illusion of not being walls at all, but an empty void, with the Keyblade symbols appearing very close to three-dimensional.

At the center of the room was a gleaming throne upon which reposed Sora, his expression one of dreamy pleasure as he slouched unconsciously in the seat. His breathing was regular, his body physically unharmed, but there was no doubt about it: This was a prison, where Xehanort had kept him locked away from the world he longed to save.

 _The only strange thing,_ Mario thought, _is why did Xehanort keep him alive at all?_

As they approached Sora's sleeping figure, Luigi watched him curiously. "Can we wake him?"

"Sora!" Kirby jumped onto Sora's lap and bounced up and down. But nothing happened.

"Puff!" Jigglypuff actually Double-Slapped Sora's face, which no one protested. They all needed Sora awake—now more than ever.

Each of them in turn shouted and tried to shake Sora back to consciousness; Zelda channeled healing magic into him; Linde experimented with some curse-breaking spells. But he would not wake.

Mario, frustrated, knew they didn't have time for this. "We'll just have to take him a-with us," he said. "We can a-worry about waking him up later, once we're all a-safe." He knew this also meant that without Sora's Kingdom Key, they wouldn't have any chance of defeating Xehanort tonight. They would have to live to fight another day.

Linde turned to Luigi. "I'll give you the strength to carry him." She placed a hand on his chest and focused again. This time, wisps of golden light streaked across her arm and into Luigi's body. Luigi almost laughed as he felt himself double, triple in strength; he felt as if he could toss the Goomba King like a shot put. He went over to Sora and slung him over his back.

"Let's eh-go!"

Suddenly Zelda fell to her knees. Her Triforce was burning on the back of her hand like a buried ember, searing her skin.

"Jiggly?" the Pokémon asked.

"Something's…wrong," Zelda gasped. "We need to find Link…now…"

Linde frowned. "Xehanort and his Heartless and Nobodies could be waiting for us anywhere; even with all our forces, there's no way we will be able to get past him should he find us. But I have a spell that may help…"

* * *

"Master Xehanort," Ganondorf said, attempting to feign loyalty as long as he could. "I would have thought you would be upstairs, ensuring that Sora does not escape."

"Oh," Xehanort said airily, "I think I find the enterprises down here much more intriguing."

He seemed to regard Ganondorf and none else, a look of genuine disappointment on his face.

"So it's true," he croaked. "You did spare the Hero of Legend so that he could return and try to overthrow me. Of course I have suspected ever since the rumors from Fourside…but it seemed impossible that you could have deceived me, Lord Ganondorf; I perceive the hearts of all. How did you do it?"

"Ha!" Ganondorf seemed to be almost enjoying this confrontation. "I guess you could say that I faced my inner demons…and won."

"The Demon King Demise…" Xehanort stroked his chin, genuinely curious and disconcertingly calm. "But if your mortal soul prevailed, then how…" His frown changed to the faintest of smiles. "You brought Demise out as a decoy whenever I was around…like a dog on a chain…while maintaining ultimate control over it. Ingenious. Quite ingenious. An unorthodox method, but one I should have foreseen."

"And it will be the last mistake you ever make." Ganondorf swept his cape behind him and brandished his serrated, key-toothed broadsword, gripping it with both hands.

Silvery wisps formed Xehanort's Keyblade in his hand. His aged brow furrowed with a strange mixture of weariness, amusement, and perhaps a little anger. He sighed. "You were a powerful Vassal, Lord Ganondorf…but your weak compassion for your kingdom is your undoing. Do you really think you can defeat me alone—after all you have seen me accomplish?"

"He's not alone."

Link moved to Ganondorf's side, as did Red, Pikachu, and DK.

Xehanort considered the Smashers for a moment, then shook his head. "You are unworthy of my attention, little heroes; I have eyes only for my mutinous servant…" He glanced at Link. "…and the one he was charged to put to death. But so that you don't get any ideas about escaping, you can play with a few of my Heartless."

From the floor on the left side of the room rose three enormous Darksides. At the same time, a dark veil parted the room down the middle, cutting off Red, Pikachu, DK, and the Heartless from Ganondorf, Link, and Xehanort.

As the sounds of Thunderbolts and Kong hollers and Red's shouts penetrated faintly through the shadowy barrier, Xehanort gave his Keyblade a practice swing.

"Shall we begin?"

Link and Ganondorf nodded to each other, then charged simultaneously and swung their blades from different angles. But somehow, as the fight began, Xehanort's single hand was swift enough to block both of theirs at once and then offer perilous counterstrikes. Link cried out as his forehead was slashed, ripping off the headband that had concealed his pointed Hylian ears. Ganondorf had suffered a similar cut along his right arm.

"Surely you can do better…or are your hearts not in this?" Xehanort raised his weapon again.

They continued their two-on-one duel, metal flashing rapidly as Link and Ganondorf took turns blocking and lunging and leaping back and ducking around each other and switching places. But in spite of their expertise and Xehanort's ancient appearance, they steadily accumulated more gashes; it was as if Xehanort himself were a video game character being controlled by an unseen child, who made him move and spar effortlessly with implausible agility and inhuman aggressiveness.

The two Triforce wielders retreated to the back wall, out of breath, swords still raised, although Xehanort did not pursue them, apparently willing to grant them a rest.

A stream of blood streaked down the Gerudo's face as he looked at his sworn-enemy-turned-partner. "We must try something else."

Link tried to focus. He'd fought many difficult sword fights, perhaps the worst being against the monstrous Ganon, and also his doppelgangers such as Dark Link and Metal Link, which mimicked his every move. In each case, he'd only gained the upper hand by breaking convention. He nodded.

"Follow my lead."

The Hero of Legend suddenly pulled out a handful of Deku Nuts and flung them at Xehanort, who deflected them but had to blink and step back from the ensuing snaps and flashes. Ganondorf followed up with a series of smaller energy balls, which Xehanort also blocked without difficulty. However, this kept him distracted long enough for Link to discreetly place two objects near the wall, toss his boomerang at Xehanort's head, and then use that brief moment while the boomerang was being blocked by the Keyblade to fit a sharp, bony object to the tip of an arrow, aim, and let it fly toward the Heart Darkener's chest.

Xehanort directed a bolt of black lightning at Ganondorf with his free hand, putting an end to his energy balls. He sliced the boomerang clean apart and simultaneously moved just quick enough to prevent the arrow from piercing his heart (or the spot where a heart should be, if the man even had one), although it still stuck into his shoulder. The soft whirring noise above and then behind him alerted Xehanort to the Bombchus which had run up the wall and along the ceiling to blow him up from behind. He swung his cloak with one arm, casting a sheet of ice over the explosives and stopping them in their tracks. Finally, as Link rushed him again with his iron sword, Xehanort kicked the boy in the chest, sending him crashing into the opposite wall.

He pulled out the arrow and examined its unusual tip with a raised eyebrow.

"A conch shell…fascinating. No doubt of sentimental value to you?"

Link said nothing, wincing as he attempted to stand. Marin's seashell gift was the sharpest thing he could find; he'd hoped that something foreign to This World might have better luck in hurting his opponent, and so far, his theory had proven correct.

Xehanort tossed the arrow to the ground, not exhibiting the least sign of pain. "Do you know why I brought the Heartless to your world, Link?"

Link's heart raced with combined adrenaline and indignation. "You want more power, no matter how many lives come at its expense. You're willing to destroy worlds like Disney and Nintendo just so you can have the illusion of omnipotence…but that's about to be taken from you for good!"

Xehanort shook his head and sighed again, even lowering his Keyblade slightly. "No, you foolish boy. The power certainly serves as a compelling secondary motive, but as I've said before, I am here to prepare all worlds for judgment."

Ganondorf snorted. "And what gives you the right to play judge? Who are you to claim you know who we are?"

Xehanort's eyebrow arched even higher. "Why, I would have thought you Smash Brothers had guessed by now. I am not just an old man who grew up on the Destiny Islands and decided one day to pursue power like every other villain in the universe. No, I hail from a higher calling—one I shared with my two familial colleagues. I believe you knew them as Nightmare and Lord of Games."

Link almost dropped his sword in surprise. "You're the Third Brother."

Xehanort nodded. "Even they feared what I was capable of. When the team of creators banished us three to the very universe we had helped design, they were punishing my youngest brother for his desire to make evil come off conqueror; my middle one for perverting the balance of power among the diverse worlds; and me…for merely seeking to paint This World in its true colors: as a fallen and unsavable cesspool, rife with hypocrisy and unfulfilled good intentions; pride and hopelessness; greed and idleness. They wanted an artificial one where such truths were boarded up underneath arbitrary, unattainable ideals. So they exiled me to my lowly existence, ignorant of the fact that here, I would find a way to bring about the very exposure they sought to prevent—and in more worlds than one. Nightmare and L.O.G., they went after their original visions as well…but their visions were narrow, their vengeful emotions unable to grasp the full potential of our new existence. Whilst they confined themselves here, to the Smash Universe, I found a way to travel between universes, seeking the power of Kingdom Hearts to facilitate judgment wherever I go. Before this one was Disney…and before that the universe of Final Fantasy…and so on back, each world's Kingdom Hearts making me stronger than the last."

Link tried to ignore the stinging lacerations all over his body and the severe pain in his back, barely able to keep himself standing. "But Sora said you grew up on the Destiny Islands, and fought in the Keyblade Wars, and always lived in Disney like everyone else. How can you have been traveling between universes as the Third Brother and lived a full life all at once?"

"Simple," Xehanort said. "Although my brothers and I were indeed banished here in maturity, we each had to live out individual lives as a new identity in our confinement; thus, Nightmare and L.O.G. have their own origin stories within Nintendo and RareWare as do I within the Destiny Islands and Disney."

"Fascinating," Ganondorf grunted. "But now your world-hopping comes to an end." He held up his left fist, the back of which glowed bright with the Triforce of Power, and nodded to Link.

Link, not sure what was about to happen, did the same, the Triforce of Courage shining like a beacon of hope in Xehanort's darkened world. The two Triforce Wielders yelled as the godly power within them emerged in the form of a blinding white pillar, which engulfed Xehanort and simultaneously shattered the dark barrier cutting them off from Red, Pikachu, and DK. The remaining Darksides were consumed and torn apart, and they could hear Xehanort scream from within the column.

The brightness faded to reveal Xehanort on his hands and knees, breathing heavily as if he were just an old man undergoing the preliminary symptoms of cardiac arrest. Whatever Ganondorf had once said about Kingdom Hearts being more powerful than the Triforce, it seemed the hero's and villain's combined strength was at least enough to deal a decent blow.

Among all the Smashers, Ganondorf was the only one who still seemed to have a lot of fight left in him; Pikachu and DK were exhausted from fighting an incessant onslaught of Heartless, which regenerated every time one was stricken down. The Gerudo glanced at his oldest foe standing at his side—no; Link _wasn't_ his oldest foe. Demise was. When it came down to it, the demon inside him had always been his only true enemy. With that thought, and the lightness that he felt in being free of not only Demise, but now Xehanort, he fixed his eyes on the flashing keyhole shape on the old man's hunched back. He smirked, stepped forward, and raised his Keyblade, which was the only kind of weapon that could kill someone who was empowered by Kingdom Hearts.

"Ragh!"

Ganondorf stared in shock at the violet blade sticking out of his chest, sinking to his knees just before he was kicked from behind and fell on his face. He felt a boot turn him over so that he could look up directly into Vaati's pale, vicious face.

"I guess _your_ heart," he gloated, "is the pathetic one after all."

Ganondorf made to lift himself up and teach this wishful thinker another lesson; after all, he still possessed a piece of Kingdom Hearts and couldn't be killed by Vaati's serrated purple dagger. Not even the Master Sword could do that.

A current of sentient smoke, peppered with small black keys, swept the Gerudo off the ground and slammed him against the same wall Link's body had recently become acquainted with. The other Smashers tried to intercede, but the smoke split into several other streams, pushing them back and incapacitating them against the ground.

Xehanort wandered slowly up to Ganondorf's helpless figure, at the center of which a keyhole shape of his own faded in and out. Vaati joined Xehanort as the old man placed a weathered hand on Ganondorf's head.

"You'll…never…" Ganondorf screamed as Xehanort channeled a stream of yellow energy from the Gerudo's head, up Xehanort's arm, and into Vaati through the other. Vaati laughed as he became empowered by Kingdom Hearts as only Xehanort and his Vassals could be.

Then Xehanort drew back his Keyblade and stabbed Ganondorf in the heart—where the keyhole had been flashing.

He leaned in so close to Ganondorf that their faces were almost touching, Xehanort's steady, musky breath contrasting with Ganondorf's irregular, choking one.

"A pity…you had so much potential, too."

He let Ganondorf's body fall to the floor and turned to Link. "As for you…normally I prefer to let my opponents live so that they might experience their judgment in full. But you have been a nuisance that may have delayed Nintendo's consummation for some time yet. The Heartless of Hyrule will have difficulty inspiring your people with hopelessness should they learn of your survival. So I'm afraid I have no choice."

He plodded slowly up to the fallen hero, gripped his Keyblade's hilt with both hands, and lifted his arms.

"No!" DK yelled, fighting vainly against the key-peppered smoke holding him at bay.

"Stop!" Red protested.

"Pikaaa!"

The blade fell, piercing through Link's chest. Link didn't even scream as the Keyblade was ripped back out of him. He was too weak to scream.

"How does it feel, Hero of the Minish?" Vaati hissed. "Do you feel…small?"

Several Fairies burst from within Link's clothing to heal the fallen hero, but Xehanort pointed his Keyblade, directing a bolt of black lightning to jump from one to the other, sizzling them out of existence.

Next, Xehanort turned to the three remaining Smashers. "Be grateful you do not all share the same fate. You shall be returned to your worlds, and with the help of the Heartless, these unfortunate proceedings will trouble you no more. I understand you have partaken of some sort of tonic which has rendered you immune to the Heartless, so we will keep you here patiently until your perspectives are made proper once again. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some intruders upstairs that need attending to…"

At that moment, a beastly roar echoed from outside. Xehanort frowned and looked out through one of the gaps. Red, DK, and Pikachu also glimpsed the source: a magnificent sunshine-yellow dragon, weaving its way down from the shroud surrounding Castle Oblivion and streaking across the sky toward the southwest, blasting airborne Heartless left and right with thick billows of golden flames.

It was Gotoh, the former master of the Akaneian School of Magic, who had adopted his Divine Dragon form ever since his role in stopping the LOGosphere.

And there were several figures riding on his back.

"They're escaping!" Vaati took a step toward the gap, pulling up the edges of his cape as if to dive off the tower like Batman. "Let me stop them, Master Xehanort!"

"No." Xehanort held out his Keyblade, which folded out of itself and transformed into some sort of ram-shaped rocket. "If they escape with Sora, then my hold over the Smash Universe will be in jeopardy. I will deal with them myself. You watch our guests until my return."

And in a black blur, Xehanort was gone after the dragon.

Vaati turned to his three prisoners and grinned wickedly. "My master wishes for you to live…but I'm sure we can have some painful fun before returning you to where you—"

He stopped mid-sentence at the sight of Prince Marth, who had just appeared at the foot of the turquoise stairs, Falchion pointed sternly at the demented Minish.

"You shall relinquish your hold on my allies, foul demon, or suffer!"

Vaati laughed and began to extend his arms, the inner folds of his cape writhing with fluttering bat wings. "I'd like to see you—"

Roy swung through the gap behind Vaati and uttered a mighty cry as he brought his fully charged Binding Blade down, causing an explosion that almost consumed the rest of the heroes in addition to Vaati. They all heard a screech from within the flames, and then a shadowy cloud of cyclopean bats rushed out of it and fled through the gaps, leaving the two heroes of Fire Emblem with their friends. Xehanort's hold on DK, Red, and Pikachu was lifted with the old man's departure.

Marth helped the three of them to their feet. "We must make haste; soon Xehanort will discover that Gotoh is a mere illusion. We can take you to the underground tunnels and smuggle you to Akaneia and work out further plans from there."

"Ganondorf said he'd already arranged a ride out for us, though," Red said.

"Link!"

Before Marth could inquire further, Roy began shouting the hero's name hysterically, dropping to his knees and shaking his shoulders. The rest of them hurried over; Link's body was barely moving, his chest bleeding badly—directly from the heart.

"You…have to…go," Link whispered. "Xehanort will come back…"

DK shook his head fervently. "We're not leavin' you here, Fairy Boy."

Link looked out at his friends, and ever so slowly, gave a faint smile. He looked into Roy's face, the neighbor with whom he'd practiced sword fighting in his younger form on many occasions. Then at Marth, with whom his young adult self had ridden into battle against Master Hand. And Yoshi, who had given him his first hope of saving his universe. And DK, and Red, and Pikachu…and then at Ganondorf, whose lifeless body represented so much more than the sacrifice of a life. As he stared at those light gray eyes, he recognized for the first time the goodness that had always been within the man, overshadowed for generations by Demise until he had finally proven to them all that willpower could conquer the darkness within any heart. Without him, all would have been lost three years ago.

The many lives of the Hero of Legend flashed through his mind like a fast-forwarded slideshow: the Great Deku Tree; Navi; Princess Ruto; Marin; Tetra; his sister, Aryll; Grandmother; all these individuals who had helped make his various incarnations who he was, who had helped make him a hero time and time again, who had made him a legend.

"Save This World," he said faintly. "And tell Zelda…I'm sorry…"

He breathed his last breath and became still, his blue eyes staring up into nothingness. He and Ganondorf—their legends were complete.

"NO!" Roy couldn't believe what had just happened. And neither could anyone else.

A ground-shaking force broke off the entire roof of the tower, sending the green shingles clattering down Hyrule Castle's battlements. The fierce winds below Castle Oblivion whipped into the room as a bolt of lightning illuminated the great silhouette of a dragon lowering its elongated head and neck into the room.

It was mostly red with a beige underbelly, a hooked tail, and a benevolent-looking face with bushy gray eyebrows and tufts of hair like horns and a sort of scraggly narrow beard. All these features gave the dragon the appearance of an exceedingly ancient beast, its belly a bit pudgy, its entire body rather cartoonish in texture. Meanwhile, Xehanort still seemed to be in pursuit of the Gotoh illusion outside.

Valoo, the Sky Spirit of Dragon Roost Island in the Great Sea, nodded to them and uttered an incomprehensible stream of deep sounds. But the impression it gave was fairly obvious.

"I think this is our ride," Red said.

Seconds later, behind Marth filed Linde, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Kirby, Jigglypuff…and Zelda. Linde's hands were glowing yellow, no doubt a sign of her continued control over the illusionary Gotoh. Zelda's attention seemed captured by the dragon, so she did not notice the two bodies on the other end, one sitting against the wall, the other on its back near one of the gaps. Valoo spoke to her, and she nodded, able to understand the almost obsolete Hylian dialect.

"We are to climb on," she said. "Is this everyone? Where is Link?"

There was a moment of horrible silence. Then Marth pointed tacitly at the body near the gap.

Zelda rushed over to the two bodies, her brain rending in two at the sight Link and Ganondorf. The Triforce of Wisdom had faded from the back of her hand, like an exhausted battery. She caught her breath.

 _It's all right,_ she reassured herself. _I used the Triforce to restore both Link and Ganon in the Battlefields; I shall do so again._

She closed her eyes and sought that connection which had allowed the Triforce to bring its two other wielders back from the brink of death.

But this time she felt nothing. The other Triforces' "batteries" were not simply dying, but dead. Just like the vessels who bore them.

Her lips trembled, unable to utter a word. She stared at Link's still face, his courageous eyes still open.

Linde cried out as her spell was broken; Xehanort had found out her deception, and Gotoh's apparition was now gone. Xehanort would be coming back. "We must go now! He is coming!"

The urgency of the moment overrode any emotional considerations. They all climbed onto Valoo's back, one after the other, several of them glancing back at the Hylian heroes they were leaving behind.

Finally, only Zelda remained, having just uttered her first choking sob, too stunned to move.

"Come, princess!" Marth gently pulled her away, helping her onto the dragon just as it began to lift its head. Valoo's blue wings were incredibly tiny, but he rose with surprising strength and tore away—seconds before Xehanort and his shadowy Keyblade contraption returned to the tower, and then redirected itself in pursuit of the real dragon.

Mario—and he was sure he wasn't alone—was certain that there was no chance they would get away. In spite of Valoo's tremendous speed, Xehanort was even faster. Within a few seconds, he would catch up and gut Valoo like a fish…

And then, unexpectedly, inexplicably, the back of Zelda's hand glowed brighter than ever—except this time, it wasn't just one triangle. It was three. The leafy currents of Farore's Wind formed a whirlwind of unprecedented size around Valoo's entire body, and with a flash and a blur they all vanished—leaving Xehanort empty-handed, but no less empty-hearted.

* * *

 **END OF BOOK 2**


	16. Chapter 13: Lifeless (1)

Book 3

The Work of Salvation

* * *

" _There was once a time…not long ago…that I believed there to be no hope for my world. No hope for Sony and Nintendo and Microsoft to ever truly find lasting peace with each other. But now…now I know that hope to be real."_

 _ **~Solid Snake**_

* * *

Chapter 13: Lifeless

* * *

 **Pyrite Town**

 **Orre Region**

* * *

 ** _X_** ehanort sent another bolt of black lightning into his prisoner, eliciting a long, drawn-out scream. His topaz eyes burned with impatience.

"I ask you again, boy… _how did the Smash Brothers know where to find the Heart Softeners?"_

Wes uttered a weak, defiant laugh, his arms and legs shackled to the rough wall of the dank cavern cell in the Under. Every nerve in his body had been nearly fried by his captor's methods, blood dripping from his nose, his face filthy, his joints brittle and abused.

"Looks like your spell's finally starting to unravel, eh, Xehanort?"

From the shadows, Gardevoir emerged, her violet eyes glowing dangerously. Behind her, Quentin looked at Xehanort as if asking permission.

"No." Xehanort held back the Ascetic and his Pokémon. He stepped right up to the Deep King until their eyes were inches from each other, his features solemn. "Orre must not lose its Champion this day. I perceive your heart is stubborn, boy…but when the Heartless are done with you, you will have embraced your darkest self once more. Though your recent memories may be lost, still you will serve as an asset to me in maintaining Nintendo's status quo. But if you will not share your knowledge with me, let me give you something more to remember.

"In the short time since my castle was breached, I have visited every region affected by Link's meddling and Ganondorf's betrayal, restoring the Heartless equilibrium which ought to permeate every inch of This World. I have given the Heartless claim over those few whose hearts were, if ever so briefly, purged—the people of Pallet Town; the surviving members of the Elite Four; the fowl Dyna Blade; the proprietor of Joke's End; the Beanish prince; and the princess and Koopa King of the Mushroom Kingdom. All that remains is to intercept those elusive Smash Brothers in their foolhardy mission. Your cause is lost. It was lost before it began. It was lost even before I came to your universe."

Wes said nothing. He remained unshaken inside, but he'd prefer to get through this with as little pain as possible; he didn't know how much more torture his body could take before it broke.

Xehanort shook his head and sighed, his hands behind his back. "I gave This World the ultimate truth; I opened your eyes to your true nature; and yet you resist, clinging to lofty, unattainable ideals. It has been my experience that the more a universe rejects its fate, the harder judgment falls upon it. Still, it's for you to choose how you will go—in denial or enlightenment. That is, after all, the whole point of what I do: to reveal the deepest desires of your hearts, the condemning desires which justify your fate." He didn't avert his eyes from Wes's as the cell around him filled with hulking Heartless, all of which were regarding Wes with an empty hunger. Wes's eyes widened.

Xehanort turned to Quentin. "Let us walk."

They left the dungeon cavern, leaving the Heartless to their business. Wes's echoing screams accompanied them almost all the way out, followed by a cold silence. The pair came out onto the neon-lit walkways of the Under, even the shadiest of characters shrinking at the sight of the Ascetic and his master.

Quentin looked pensive. "You are not concerned, then, about those who have escaped? Even Sora?"

The solemnity of Xehanort's expression remained. "I confess I'm not thrilled by the boy's escape. Now, he and his small band of Smash Brothers—including your son—will seek to take down my Vassals, one by one. It is quite possible that in one or two fluke cases, they may find success, and rob me of some of my power."

"So why do you not go after them yourself? They would stand no chance against you, and you would destroy them."

Xehanort shook his head slowly. "The Hand of Fate has placed certain constraints that even I cannot violate. Even if I were to put an end to their little rebellion this very day, I would be forced to kill them all—a loss of precious souls that would run contrary to my purpose. The deaths of Link and Ganondorf were necessary—but it was unfortunate they had to fall by my hand, for those whom I slay in other worlds become exempt from the judgment which brings me both fulfillment and power."

"I see," Quentin said, though he wasn't sure he fully grasped all of Xehanort's words. "You will let the Vassals deal with them, then?"

"Yes, Quentin…and they have all been informed of recent events and are ready for the Smash Brothers' arrival. Any single member of my Organization XIII is more than capable of disposing of Sora's band of rebels, especially with the power of Kingdom Hearts I have granted them." Xehanort smirked slightly. "And I must also confess I am rather curious to see how far your son and his friends can go. Each universe I have consummated has put up some degree of struggle or another. But the higher they rise, the farther they fall. It's a bit of indulgence I admit to sharing with my brother, Nightmare—to watch the game unfold, hoping my opponent's pieces put up a respectable fight before they are crushed by my trump cards and checkmates. And that is what I shall do. I can only hope, for your sake, that Red recognizes he's playing for the side that lost the game before it ever started. And that he recognizes this before it's everlastingly too late."

Quentin's fingers clenched around the Omni Ball in his rough hands. He was still distraught by his son's betrayal—and anxious that those responsible for Red's change of heart faced retribution.

"Believe me, Master Xehanort…I will make sure not one whisper of rebellion sounds from those within my stewardship; and if those Smash Brothers should ever show their faces in the Nintendo World again, I will bring Red back to my side and let the Pokémon rend the rest in twain."

"And I value your commitment," Xehanort said as they stopped before the lift which would take them back to Pyrite Town on the surface. "But let us not get ahead of ourselves; once the Smash Brothers meet more of my Vassals, they may very well realize that This World does not need to be saved at all. We have already saved it—from itself."

* * *

 **Faron Woods**

 **Hyrule**

* * *

Valoo, Sky Spirit of Dragon Roost Island, landed on a narrow inlet where the Faron Woods bordered the ocean to the east and the Beanbean Outskirts to the south. The waves and the wind seemed as hushed and withdrawn as the dragon's passengers as they each dismounted and gathered around one another on a grassy outcropping, all of them still at a loss about what had just happened. Luigi gently set Sora's comatose body on the ground. Princess Zelda was stone-faced and silent, her heart softened but shredded.

DK appeared to be one of the most clear-headed among them at the moment. He turned to the three Akanaeians that had accompanied them—Marth, Roy, and Linde.

"Are we safe here?"

"For a brief time, at least," Linde responded. "Xehanort will not know to pursue you past here; he will likely hope you remain in Hyrule and seek another opportunity to strike down his Vassal, Vaati. Especially since several of us are unable to cross the border."

"But…" Red was confused, and he knew he wasn't the only one. "How are you Akanaeians in Hyrule at all? And how will we cross the border with a Hylian dragon and princess?"

"Xehanort granted the three of us brief access to Hyrule to guard Sora," Marth said. "But unfortunately, that privilege doesn't extend beyond Hyrule's borders. The rest of you must go on without us. We may be recaptured, yes, but that will matter little if you can free our lands from the Heartless for good."

Valoo erupted in a series of ancient Hylian grunts, clearly uttering them for Zelda's ears. She shoved aside everything in her heart and on her mind and listened intently, nodding.

"Valoo says Xehanort's magical boundaries have no effect on sea dwellers; there's no set 'boundary' of the Great Sea, so he can take us anywhere there's ocean." She paused as Valoo added something else; a puzzled look crossed her face, but after hesitating, she translated. "He also believes that with Hyrule's original member of the Twelve gone, I will be able to leave Hyrule with you in his place."

Marth looked relieved, and nodded. "Let us test your theory, mighty dragon." He held his hand out to Zelda, gently taking hers and leading her to the small ledge which transitioned from the Faron Woods to the Beanbean Outskirts.

He tried to take another step, but an invisible barrier held him back. Zelda looked unsure, but tentatively stepped forward…

…and passed over the border. Though not strictly a member of the original Smashers, she, like Red and Pichu-evolved-Pikachu, seemed to satisfy the magic's terms.

"So we're a-gonna find Smithy in Bowser's a-Castle first, right?" Luigi said. "He's the closest a-Vassal, besides Vaati."

"Makes a-sense to me," Mario said, more than a little biased with his desire to liberate the Mushroom Kingdom sooner rather than later. Let's a-go, then!"

"Wait."

Zelda listened as Valoo gave a complex series of snorts and grunts. She turned to Mario and Luigi hesitantly.

"Valoo says…we must leave the entire Nintendo World behind, not just Hyrule. Xehanort's grip is tightest the closer we are to Castle Oblivion; should we remain, we would be overwhelmed by his forces. But if we depart for the other worlds first, we will only have to deal with the Vassals overseeing those regions."

Red thought of his father, and of Cyber K. Rool, and of how easy it would be for Xehanort to cut off any attempt they made to confront the Vassals they had encountered in Nintendo. "He's right; we can catch the Vassals overseas by surprise, and then hopefully by the time we come back, Xehanort will have been weakened enough for us to get to the rest."

DK ripped a branch of blueberries from a nearby shrub, shoved the entire thing into his mouth, and swallowed. "Where to first, then? Sony? Microsoft? Atari? New RareWare?"

"We don't know if any of the islands have Vassals on them," Yoshi pointed out. So I think we should start with Sony—far enough to give us some breathing room from Xehanort, and we'll be pretty sure to find at least a couple Vassals there."

"Sack!" Kirby agreed, thinking of his good friend from Craftworld.

"Puff!"

"Pika!"

Mario and Luigi glanced at each other glumly; unfortunately, the argument against them staying in Nintendo was too strong for them to counter. Their princess and their kingdom would have to wait.

"Okey-dokey," Mario said.

They each said their farewells to Marth, Roy, and Linde before climbing Valoo's long neck onto his bright scaly back.

Zelda paused before the Akaneians, not allowing her internal despair to color her voice. "Thank you all…none of us would have escaped without your help."

Marth took Zelda's hands in his own—not as a lover, but like a nobleman and a brother. "I swear to you, princess…Link's death will not have been in vain. You have the inner strength of a goddess…but don't forget that it is all right to feel." He inclined his head and stepped away, smiling, the light breeze sifting through his dark blue hair.

Zelda inclined her head in return, then turned and climbed onto Valoo's back, her dress still the same repulsive blood red it had been ever since the Heartless took control.

Valoo rumbled, his leathery hide vibrating with heat like a natural seat-warmer. Since his wings were so tiny, he instead pounded his hooked tail into the green earth, propelling himself off the ground and into the air. They all waved down to the Akaneians before the dragon turned and headed out to sea parallel to the coast, southbound.

* * *

The first day of their journey was quiet; somehow, as a Sky Spirit, Valoo flew in such a way that the wind did not much disturb the passengers on his back. He soared over the crystalline morning water with surprising grace, considering his body looked quite disproportionate to the laws of aerodynamics. He used his tail to fly almost more than his wings, like a giant temperamental rudder, steering them along the coast of the Beanbean and Mushroom Kingdoms, keeping his charges warm and comfortable with his own body heat.

On Valoo's spacious back, the eight heroes sat in silence (Pikachu and Jigglypuff had again opted for their Pokéballs). No one dared allow themselves to be caught staring at Zelda, who handled grief so different than most, keeping everything suppressed and under control. But those who listened carefully could catch the occasional quiet sob, which was all but drowned out by the wind roaring past them on either side—though it was still quite a bit softer than what they'd experience on Dyna Blade. Valoo's control over the sky elements was a bit above what would commonly be considered natural.

Zelda allowed the softly rushing air to dry her tears before they could ever well up or flow over, her hair a ragged mess which rather accurately reflected how she felt inside.

She hadn't had any time to experience denial; instead, she'd been forced to accept Link's and Ganondorf's deaths immediately and move on. It was like no pain she had ever felt in any of her incarnations—not even that of having her life force slowly sucked away by Demise; or of living on the run with Impa as an exile for seven years, posing as a Sheikah. The thing about all those other times was that no matter how oppressive the darkness had been, or how mighty Ganon's reincarnation had grown, there had always been the security of patterns: always an evil that rose to afflict her kingdom; always a period of trial and suffering; and always an eventual triumph by the Hero of Legend, ushering in one era of peace after another, and resetting the cycle all over again.

But now that the "Great Convergence" had caused the three Triforce Wielders to merge with all their separate versions of themselves, and two of those wielders had fallen, surely that cycle had come to an unavoidable end. The legends of Hyrule and the Triforce were over. What she didn't understand was why her legend hadn't ended with them.

How could she go on like this?

How could she find hope when the brightest spark of hope she had ever known lay dead atop the highest tower of Hyrule Castle? When the wedding that had so nearly sealed their happiness and their future was now nothing but a far-off memory, a scattered dream?

What was the point?

And what of Ganondorf? The Gerudo had proven that his willpower could root out the demon Demise from his soul, that he could assert himself as his own man. He had won his freedom, and had made a tremendous sacrifice for Nintendo without which none of them would be here—only for his freedom to be cut short by death's sudden sting. Why had she been spared when great men like him, who deserved bright futures, had not?

Her body quietly convulsed as she stared out into the endless ocean horizon, feeling almost as empty as she had been under the Heartless' spell.

* * *

Luigi watched Sora's sleeping figure curiously. The boy had been snoozing as peacefully as if he were dreaming of sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows with fluffy cotton candy clouds and a 24-hour pasta buffet.

Well, okay, that last part was his own daydreaming.

Would they be able to wake him up at all? Or had their endeavor all been for nothing? And for that matter, with the Heart Softeners expended in Castle Oblivion, how would they find the allies they needed to defeat the Vassals in Sony?

Red crawled over to him and pulled out a small burlap sack, as if he knew what the plumber had been thinking. "I grabbed these just before we left."

Luigi reached inside and, to his surprise, found at least a couple dozen Time Flutes and several bottles of Dream Water still intact. Red must have salvaged them from Link's body, though they both knew that would have been a rather unsavory way to state it. Still, he felt a small surge of hope; at least now they might stand a chance of purging Sony and the other worlds.

Kirby looked back and forth between the bag in Luigi's hands and Sora's dormant figure. Then he beamed, for he had an idea.

"Waah!"

Without warning, Luigi felt the bag begin to slip out of his hands as Kirby sucked out a single bottle of Dream Water and caught it in his stubby arm.

"Kirby?" Yoshi looked at him quizzically. "What are you doing?"

Kirby didn't bother to explain. He just uncorked the bottle and, before anyone could protest, dumped its contents onto Sora's face.

Almost immediately, Sora took a huge breath and sat up, blinking, wide awake as if he'd just taken a 20-minute power nap. He looked around himself, even more confused than the common reaction of all whose hearts had been softened.

"'Wake!" Kirby cheered, waving his stubs in the air.

Mario and DK joined the growing party of Smashers staring at Sora with matching expressions of disbelief.

"You a-did it!"

Sora yawned and stretched and rubbed his eyes, clearly still out of it, his speech lethargic. "What are you guys all doing here? Where's Xehanort? What happened to the wedding? And why are we riding a dragon across the ocean?"

"It's been three years since the wedding, kid," DK said frankly.

Sora's eyes almost popped out of his head. _"What?"_

Mario helped pull him to his feet. "It's a long a-story. Lucky for you, we've got plenty of a-time to tell it."

* * *

Hours later, far to the southeast of the Nintendo mainland, Mario spotted a suitable place for them to spend the night. A wave of nostalgia rushed over him as he looked down on the distant shores of Rogueport—the setting of his adventures in the Thousand-Year Door, and where he had met Vivian for the first time. And also where the Shadow Queen had possessed Princess Peach and nearly destroyed everything. Good times.

Valoo rumbled in Hylian that he could easily sleep in the air, but the general sentiment among the Smashers was that as smooth as their ride was, having solid ground to rest on would be much preferred.

Mario directed the dragon toward a tiny island to the south of Rogueport's considerable land mass—Keelhaul Key, a deserted jungle environment which would hopefully keep them safe from prying eyes. Accordingly, Valoo tilted downward in a steep descent, pulling up just over the shore, the thick palm trees and rocky yellow beach looking about as civilized as Conker the Squirrel's personality. Creatures chirped and growled and chittered from within the jungle, but as Valoo allowed them to slide off his tail into the shallows (he could not land himself, being restricted by Xehanort's regional boundaries), Mario assured them all that they would be safe—as long as they didn't wander into the jungle.

The sun dwindled, and they just had time to set up a campfire before nightfall (which wasn't too difficult for two heroes that could spontaneously ignite their fists). All they had by way of shelter, however, was what they could put together with large palm leaves and rocks and bamboo sticks. As for food, Peach's supplies were still enough to sustain them for a few more days. After all, DK mostly sought out his own sustenance in the form of Keelhaul Mangoes, while Kirby sucked a few Cheep Cheeps out of the ocean to curb his appetite.

"So, question," DK said, the flames entrancing his eyes along with most everyone else's. "Since almost everyone except us has their hearts closed, what are we gonna do about the Smash Brothers? I mean, this Twelve thing is great and all, but I feel like we need direction. Leadership. Shouldn't we try and get Meta Knight back on our side before we turn tail on Nintendo for who knows how long?"

"Meta Knight is dead," Zelda said flatly, not glancing at Kirby's tragic expression even a little. "He was…killed by Xehanort during the attack on the wedding. Xehanort wished to make an example of him."

That was a heavy blow for most of them, who hadn't been at the wedding themselves. With Kirby's limited speech, there had been no real way for the Dreamlandian to tell them what had happened.

Mario squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists, inadvertently igniting them. Not Meta Knight too. They had already lost Link and Ganondorf forever. With each successive death, it seemed as if the battle for the Smash Universe's soul became a little more hopeless. For even if they did succeed in defeating all the Vassals and Xehanort and the Heartless, that wouldn't fix the damage that could never be repaired. That wouldn't bring back their fallen friends any more than the Smash Planet Grand Prix brought back Captain Falcon or Diddy Kong.

"Chu…" Pikachu sank onto the sand, his ears wilting from the dire news. Jigglypuff's sparkly eyes looked to be on the verge of tears as well.

DK did everything he could to keep his anger in check. But learning that the leader of the Smash Brothers had already been dead for three years did not make it easier.

"Meta Knight was the bravest and noblest of us, and I'm not gonna let that stand. Xehanort will pay for all the lives he's ruined. One of us has gotta step up and rally us together so we don't lose anyone else."

There was a long moment of silence. Luigi glanced at his brooding brother and cleared his throat. "Professor Gadd once told a-Mario when he was in the Citadel a-hospital that he would then be Meta Knight's a-second. So with Meta Knight gone, technically the Smash a-Brothers look to you now, bro."

Mario had almost forgotten about that—Gadd bequeathing his leadership responsibilities to Mario because of his ailing body. At the time it hadn't seemed like that big of a deal, but now, with his fellow Smashers all watching him, and the mantle of the Smash Brothers fully upon his shoulders, it felt very heavy indeed.

"I…I'm a-just one of you."

DK, who once might have resented Mario for his new authority, had learned much about what it meant to be a leader during the Second Copyright Wars. He had resented Gadd's decisions to the point of causing dangerous dissent during the final conflict in Microsoft, and it had cost one of the Timber's Island racers his life. Now he knew how to lead: by knowing when to follow. He rose to his full height and pounded one fist against his chest.

"Then it's you who'll lead us to victory, Jumpman," he said. "For everyone we've lost. For Diddy."

"For Captain Falcon," Red said, standing as well.

"For Link," Yoshi said.

"Pika!" ("For Red's first Pikachu!")

"Puff!" ("For Charizard!")

"Meta!" Kirby said.

"For Impa," Luigi said.

Sora slowly stood and held out his hand. Gradually, tens of thousands of golden sparks gathered in his palm, forming the hilt and blade of his Keyblade, the Kingdom Key. The key to their victory.

"For Disney."

Zelda, who had hardly contributed to the night's conversation at all, apparently lost in thought, was finally stirred by the Smashers' rally. Somehow she found the strength to join them, albeit quietly and without pomp.

"For Ganondorf of the Gerudos."

Mario, who was the only one left sitting, was stunned by the confidence these heroes were showing in him. In the emotion of the moment, he leapt to his feet and accidentally caused a fireball to turn their campfire into a bonfire. But Mario didn't back away from the hot, licking tendrils; he embraced the heat, and defied it with a fist pump to the air, looking past their camp to the distant shores of Rogueport and saying the first thing that came to his mind.

"For Vivian."


	17. Chapter 13: Lifeless (2)

The night passed without incident, and in the morning as they prepared to set off once more, little had changed physically. But there seemed to be a renewed vitality, a sense of purpose and optimism that had eluded the small party the day before. Finally, it was time to hunt for the Vassals rather than be hunted by them.

Before leaving, in an attempt to contact Pit and receive more specific directions about where to go in Sony, DK dropped one of the Skyworld pebbles into a murky tide pool. But after minutes of waiting, nothing happened. He and the Smashers worried for their friend, but there was nothing for them to do but to go on and hope to reestablish contact later. Thus, they wasted no time remounting Valoo and heading out once again.

Soon enough, Rogueport was all but a dark line on the horizon behind them, and as the day wore on, they watched the distant southeastern shores of the Mushroom Kingdom pass by. The last land they saw before heading out to open sea was the curving shore of Delfino Island, the Shine Gate of Delfino Plaza poking out further inland with an optimistic sparkle.

And then they were off, leaving Nintendo behind—hopefully to return soon. There were, after all, at least four Vassals they would have to come back for at some point.

The next three days seemed to pass by in a blur. Without any islands to rest on, the Smashers were forced to make do with the limited comforts of Valoo's back. For Red and Yoshi, it was somewhat of a blast from the past, for their direct route very closely mirrored the one sailed by _The King's Krystal_ four years before. Even Zelda, who still bore the experiences and memories of Captain Tetra inside, looked down rather fondly at the coursing oscillations of webbed seafoam scrolling below. The salty air; the fresh breeze; the tranquil applause of the waves; it was almost like a home away from home.

Fortunately, this time around there were no sudden tempests to disrupt their journey. Red knew he wouldn't possibly be able to identify the exact spot, but he reflected on the circumstances in which he'd first been reunited with his father, who had saved them from a dozen Big Octos. Little had he known at the time how complicated things would become between them.

Between sleep and eating and conversation and quiet reflection, the Smashers found themselves content at first, but by the second and third day, most of them were growing tired of inactivity—bored, even. Ready to start making a real difference. Valoo, who hadn't exactly traversed these waters before, trusted Zelda's directions, whose accuracy was proven the morning of the fourth day when the Sony World finally came into sight.

"There's Shadow Moses Island," Red said, pointing down at the small forested stretched of land nearest them, with the ominous blue-gray base sticking up like a fossilized box of explosives.

The first cannon shot came completely without warning, the metal shell rocketing right past Valoo's wing. Before anyone could ask what had fired at them, the answer became apparent: A rotating turret mounted on the nuclear base had a trail of smoke curling up from its barrels, like a mechanical monster that had awoken from its mindless sleep.

"Watch out!" Red cried. Though Kanto wasn't anywhere near as sophisticated as much of Sony and Microsoft, he recognized an anti-aircraft cannon when he saw one. "It's gonna shoot again!"

Valoo emitted a roar and dipped his right wing, barrel-rolling as another shell flew right through where they had just been. He whipped his hooked tail upward and performed a loop-de-loop, only instead of coming back up he kept speeding straight down toward the shore of Shadow Moses, his passengers clinging to his back for dear life.

"Waah!" Luigi almost lost his hat (still singed from its interaction with Roy's Binding Blade), and he couldn't help feeling like he was on one of Pinna Park's wildest rollercoasters—only, this time there were no seat restraints, no tracks, and no guarantee that the park would be liable for any and all injuries. The g-force made him feel like he was being sucked upward into Negativitron's sinister nozzle—again.

The cannon shot again—this time with deadly precision. Valoo abruptly cut off his plummet, catching the wind with his wings like a parachute and unapologetically tossing his passengers around like loose luggage. But that wasn't enough to stop the shell from searing straight through the thicker part of his hanging tail.

Valoo roared again as suddenly his balance was thrown off. He hovered unstably for a moment and then dived into a curving slope toward the shore. As he passed over the land, he growled something somber to Zelda and rolled upside down, shaking all the Smashers onto the sand before rising tremulously into the sky.

They watched in awe as, injured as he was, Valoo came back around and made a direct course for the cannon.

"What's he a-doing?" Mario cried.

Zelda took a deep breath and closed her eyes, feeling the Sky Spirit's pain and understanding his sacrifice. "He cannot come with us any longer, so he's giving us the best chance he can."

"No!" Even Sora, who knew next to nothing about Nintendo's inhabitants, felt his heart clench as Valoo was nearly blasted through the chest in his attempt to take down the turret. The heavy artillery jarred him off course, but as he streaked past, his hooked tail swung into the neck of the turret's pivoting head, ripping it off and dragging it into the underbrush below. Valoo would have crashed onto the adjacent shore, but the invisible barrier between boundaries rejected him, thrusting his considerable weight back into the air. The dragon flew away toward the north, lop-sided and looking as if he might tumble into the ocean at any moment.

The Smashers, physically shaken by the wild ride as they were, were even more deeply shaken in spirit. Already their ride on and off Sony was gone. Mario and Luigi removed their hats in respect, and they gathered behind Zelda speechlessly, who by now had become numb to whatever pain she might have felt for every friend that took a bullet or a blade for her. Yet they were hardly granted a moment's silence before it was interrupted once again.

"Hands up, earth-lickers."

They froze as a single figure emerged from the forest. Orange space armor; red helmet; lime green visor; arm cannon. It was all there—except for the mercy.

"Samus?" Yoshi stared at the Smasher in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question, lizard," Samus said coldly. "Actually, I will; but my friend will be the one to get the answers from you—one way or another."

A second figure emerged from the wooded shadows, clad in dark camo with his bearded face obscured in black mud, a machete clutched in his hand.

Snake grinned savagely. "It's showtime."

Suddenly, he drew a metal sphere and tossed it in the midst of the Smashers. Before they could do anything, the green sleeping gas billowed from the device and rendered them all unconscious within seconds. Snake turned to Samus and laughed softly.

"Here they are, just as Xehanort said they'd be. Do you reckon he'd miss one or two of them?" He twiddled his knife between his fingers, thirsting for something to filet.

Samus shook her head. "Best not risk it, hun. Besides…" She drew up her arm cannon. "I don't want to lose one credit of that bounty."

Snake smirked and slunk over to her, drawing her to him. "Are you sure, Sam? Even just one—perhaps the forgettable one in the green hat?" He pulled off her helmet, revealing her hardened features. "I'd make it worth your while…"

At that point, Pikachu and Jigglypuff, who couldn't stand this repulsive Heartless romance one second longer, made their move. While Snake and Samus were making evil googly eyes at each other, the two Pokémon quietly exited their Pokéballs. Pikachu rummaged through Red's jacket, pulled out a Time Flute, and tossed it over to Jigglypuff, who cleared her musical throat and drew it to her mouth.

It was then Samus and Snake noticed the two Pokémon and pointed their weapons at them.

"Freeze, you freaks!" Samus threatened.

But Jigglypuff required virtually no motion to play her song. The same light, magical melody whistled from the flute, summoning the golden sparks which surrounded Snake and Samus and purged the darkness from their hearts.

The pair stared down at the two Pokémon with an utter lack of comprehension. Then they noticed they were wrapped in each other's arms, cried out simultaneously, and disentangled themselves. Snake swore loudly.

"What…just…happened?" Samus looked out at the sleeping Smashers. "Did… _we_ …do this?"

"Pika Pika!" The two humans could not, of course, understand that Pikachu's exact meaning was, "You sure did. But once the others wake up, we'll explain everything!" It was clear, though, that they would have to wait to figure it all out. And they would have been content to sit and await their friends' return to consciousness.

But Jigglypuff couldn't resist securing a little self-imposed justice, even though she knew Snake and Samus weren't really at fault. She gave them a bright smile…and Sang.

* * *

Three hours later, they were all seated inside the command center of the island's base. Snake and Samus had been brought up to date on everything up until that point.

Snake buried his head in his hands. "It cannot be…I allowed that turret to harm your dragon friend. What kind of wretch would have it in his heart to do such a thing?"

Kirby waddled up to his feet and rubbed his boot consolingly. "Heartless!"

"A better question," DK said, turning to Samus, "is why did Xehanort have you all the way down here instead of at your home turf in outer space?"

For some odd reason, Samus seemed reluctant to answer. She cast Snake a lightning glance.

Snake cleared his throat, appearing equally sheepish. "Xehanort wants those under the Heartless' influence to be content. As such, he allowed us certain, um…" His eyes couldn't help flickering toward the bounty hunter and back. "Never mind."

"It's all a-good," Mario said, sensing this was a good time to change the subject. "Now…we a-need to find the Vassals in Sony. Do you a-know where they are?"

Snake nodded, also appearing glad to have something more professional to discuss. "Yes. One, anyway. There are three Vassals over Sony. The one with stewardship over Shadow Moses also oversees Mobius, Veldin, and Kaine Island. We call him…the Desolator."

"Great," Sora said. "So how do we find him?"

Snake and Samus looked at each other doubtfully.

"That might be a problem," Samus said. "The thing is…he's not exactly on the continent."

DK groaned. "Another Vassal in outer space? That's just wonderful."

"There is good news, though," Snake said. "The Desolator is an evil man named Dr. Ivo Robotnik, who the Mobians know as Dr. Eggman."

"Eggman?" Kirby said curiously, and perhaps a little hungrily.

Snake smiled a little. "They call him Eggman because he dwells in a moon-like space station which he dubbed the Death Egg. It isn't too far above Sony—similar to the Citadel in Eden Prime—but it's also a weapon which has…" A shadow crossed his face. "Well, better if we show you what it's done to Mobius."

"Okey-dokey," Mario said. "So we a-go to Mobius; but then how do we a-get into this Death Egg?"

"I'll take you all in my rig," Samus said. "And while we're there, if you're lucky, you might even be able to get your hands on the Chaos Emeralds, which would make traveling across Sony a whole lot easier."

"Good idea," Red said. He remembered how he and the other voyagers to Sony had split into a number of smaller parties and used the Chaos Emeralds to teleport to the various regions, recruiting the Sony All-Stars to their cause.

Zelda turned to Snake. "Is there any way you would be able to come with us also?"

Snake shook his head. "Xehanort never gave me permission to leave Shadow Moses. The last three years've kinda sucked—well, mostly…" He cleared his throat. "But I can send my drone Cypher with you and keep in touch that way." He lit a cigarette and took in a deep draft. Several people looked at him funny. He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Just didn't know you had a taste for ingested poison," DK snickered.

Snake looked indignant. "Hey…the Heartless brought back some bad habits, okay, Kong? I'm sure they affected you just as—"

"Enough bickering," Samus said, fitting her helmet back on. "Are you all getting on my ship or what?"

* * *

Samus's gunship lifted off the helipad just outside the base and headed out over the island, blowing the tops of the pine trees like a giant hairdryer as it departed.

Soon Shadow Moses Island was behind them, and they crossed the small channel separating it from the Sonian mainland. The coast of Mobius drew near, and Red and Yoshi eagerly watched for the beautiful country they'd found here last time.

But the lush emerald grass, the sparkling streams and glittering lakes, the pure white clouds and paradisiacal sunshine—it was all gone. Replaced with barren gray ground, the rolling hills naked and burdened with splintered boulders and dead tree trunks.

The Smashers observed in shock as they passed over Sonic the Hedgehog's paradise-turned-wasteland. It used to be rampant with colorful wildlife—twittering birds and fuzzy critters living the dream. Now it more closely resembled the Fields of Asphodel in the Greek Underworld, all the joy sucked out of it like the juice from a watermelon (a thought that made Yoshi cringe).

But the worst was yet to come. They approached the part where they expected to find the floating Angel Island, where the Chaos Emeralds had been enshrined, guarded by Tikal the Echidna (who had perished in the Second Copyright Wars) and inhabited by adorable creatures known as Chao.

In its place, however, was a giant crater. It appeared that the island had fallen from the sky, breaking apart into desolate chunks of earth and stone and wood, the pristine waterfall and pool and cave of Angel Island gone forever. It reminded Zelda much of Hyrule during Ganon's seven-year reign. She turned to Cypher, Snake's small propeller-driven camera that had accompanied them in the war veteran's place.

"Dr. Robotnik's Death Egg…did _this?_ "

The hovering drone seemed to nod grimly. "When Xehanort gave him the power of Kingdom Hearts, the first thing he did was snatch Sonic and most of his friends, take the Chaos Emeralds, and use them to power his space station's mega weapon, which burned up most of Mobius. The animal life that managed to survive, well…see for yourself."

Samus lowered her ship almost to the surface, where they beheld small isolated figures crawling or drifting across the colorless environment. What Yoshi had first taken for windswept scrap metal were in fact diminutive robots, shaped like gloomy snails, disgruntled ladybugs, emotionless bluebirds, and any number of other animals.

"Eggman uses Mobius's real animals to build these things—Badniks, I think they're called."

"Hey," Red said, recognizing two of the figures—one with the appearance of a fox composed of mustard-yellow metal and a thick twin-tailed propeller; the other a rusty red echidna with steel-spiked fists. Both were treading slowly across the landscape without any apparent purpose. "That's Tails and Knuckles; let's go purge them!"

"No." Mario said, surprising the rest with his apparent lack of sympathy. But it wasn't so much a lack of compassion as it was a generous supply of focus and reason. "There won't be any point in a-purging them if we don't stop a-the Eggman." He looked at Samus and nodded. "It's a-time we take the fight to him."

DK pounded his fist against his palm. "Yeah; I'm sold on this one. This Eggman guy's due for a major butt-kicking."

Samus smiled. "It's good to be back, guys. I've missed this. Now hold on to your pants…if you're wearing any."

With that, she accelerated her gunship and steered it straight upward, throwing everyone back in their seats, making them grateful for their seat restraints.

The aircraft pushed through the dull brown clouds and into the atmosphere, which looked as if it carried three years' worth of floating debris. They sped upward with little to see for some ten minutes—and then penetrated the uppermost reaches of the filthy layer to view the Death Egg.

Or at least, they were supposed to, except all they saw was empty space. The darkness of outer space beyond was evident, yet no stars shone through for the simple reason that the clouds of dust had slowly stretched out to obscure the view.

"Uh…" Luigi squinted from behind the windshield. "Am I a-missing something?"

"Yes," Samus said, flipping a few colored switches and turning a dial. "But not for long."

A vertical blue sheet of light projected from the front of the gunship and slowly scanned across the vast dusty space in front of them. Sure enough, the electric blue outline of a giant sphere flickered into view, followed by the rest of the Death Egg.

It was literally a Death Star with a rather comical, mustachioed face structure in place of the laser depression. But of course, none of the Smashers knew about that, so to them it was a giant, almost-cleverly disguised moon with a goofy face on the front.

"Wow," DK said.

Zelda, Yoshi, and Red, who had never left their planet's atmosphere, were particularly baffled by the world beyond theirs. Looking back, it seemed strange to them that their home was ultimately on a colossal sphere, and that there was such a thing as space without air. Stranger still was the concept that there were people who _lived_ out here.

"Eggman isn't expecting anyone to find him out here," Snake's staticky voice came through Cypher's speaker. "So security should be pretty lax. I hope that Kingdom Key's all it's cracked up to be, though; even a bumbling genius like him is incredibly powerful with just the smallest piece of Kingdom Hearts, so that Keyblade had better work."

"It will," Sora said confidently. "Just give me a good shot at him, and I'll take it."

"Now, let's see here…"

Samus cautiously maneuvered them closer to the Death Egg, searching for an entrance. Not much later, a hatch opened to release what looked like a supply robot from the unlikeliest of places.

"Seriously?"

Samus snorted in disgust, but accelerated to beat the closing hatch and entered the station through Eggman's left nostril.

The docking bay was full of robots, most of them shaped like what the Smashers presumed was Dr. Eggman—a portly man in a red long-sleeved shirt with his bowtie-mustache—and in this case, jetpacks and wrist rockets.

"D'you think they'll notice us?" Sora said in a hushed voice.

Samus adjusted her grip on her controls, fingering a couple triggers with her thumbs. "I don't really care."  
With that, she unloaded her gunship's arsenal of blasters and missiles into the docking bay, clearing it out like a wildfire with an explosive attitude.

Thirty seconds later, the gunship landed in the blackened bay, the station's flashing red emergency alarm sounding for obvious reasons.

"Couldn't we have just sneaked past them?" DK asked.

Samus shrugged. "Probably; but a bounty hunt's never as fun the easy way."

Mario sighed. Apparently the aftereffects of the Heartless were still lingering on her as well. "Okay; let's a-go! Snake, can you help us find a-the Eggman?"

"I'll do you one better," Cypher responded, leading them out of the ship and toward an elevator. "I'm hacking the Egg's mainframe now; the security cookies will be disabled, and I'll take you right to him."

"Cookies?" Kirby said.

The nine of them (plus Cypher) crammed into the elevator and waited for the doors to close. Rather than pressing one of the buttons—which were shaped like gold rings for some reason—Cypher plugged itself into a socket on the wall and went about its work.

"Just…about… _got it._ "

With a lurch, the elevator shot upward, sending DK into Luigi's face and smooshing his body against the steel wall.

"Ow," Luigi said.

They ascended what felt like at least a couple dozen floors, and the elevator seemed to twist and rotate like a simulator until finally it screeched to a halt and the door opened.

"Never again," Luigi muttered as they stepped out into the long corridor beyond.

No sooner had they all exited the elevator, however, than a swarm of jetpack-propelled Eggman robots began pouring into the hallway and firing wrist rockets at them.

Zelda activated Nayru's Love, casting a translucent sapphire diamond around them and reflecting the rockets, several of which made contact and exploded their hosts. Pikachu sprang from his Pokéball and sped forward, casting a Light Screen around himself to block the dozens of tiny missiles. He Volt Tackled the entire bunch, blasting the rest of the robots apart like shredded wheat.

"Nicely done," Snake said through Cypher. "This way." He led them around the corner to the right and down a hallway which curved gradually to the left, everyone running to keep up. Occasionally more Eggman bots would approach from ahead or behind, in which case they were either crushed by a DK somersault at the front, or had their wrist rockets reflected back at them by Mario's cape in the back. A few even tried to surprise them through hidden doors in the walls, but the Smashers were ready to punch or kick or burn or swallow anything that got in their way.

Finally, Cypher veered off through an automatic door to the right, bringing them into a broad hemispherical command bridge with a wide window that looked out upon the gaseous brown atmosphere, the surface of Smash Planet hidden far below. And waiting there to greet them was…Eggman.

Or, at least, a hanging television screen with his twisted smile on it. The main difference between him and his robotic counterparts was his dark, round-rimmed spectacles. Although they didn't betray his actual eyes, there was something manic about them which, when combined with his off-keltered smile and sickly brow, seemed to reflect the sinister scientist within.

"I've been expecting you, Smash Brothers," he said in an annoyingly whiny voice, his mustache twitching. "Though I'll admit I had my doubts about you finding my beautiful Death Egg Mach III. Tell me…did you enjoy the renovations I made to Mobius?"

Yoshi chucked an egg at the screen, which rattled from the hit but didn't break. "You have no respect for life, Eggman! I can see why Sonic hates you so much."

Eggman's grin widened. "Ah, yes, Sonic the Hedgehog…he and his friends plagued and humiliated me for far too long. But no more! Xehanort has granted me everything I've ever wanted, and then some. He'll be so pleased when I report your demise. And speaking of Sonic…" Dr. Robotnik snapped his finger. "I think you need to meet one of my most ingenious machines. Have fun!"

He giggled as the screen folded up into the ceiling. It revealed a single Sonic-shaped figure that was absolutely still, focused on them with a bar of angry red light where its eyes should have been. Its armor was deep blue, its arms made of chrome coils with thick blue wrists, its thin legs wrought of some kind of sturdy black carbon. And a crosshair beam that was actually visible to everyone was shining on Mario's face.

Mecha Sonic.

"TARGET ACQUIRED."

Before Mario could even pull out his cape, a sort of retractable claw snatched him by his breeches and flung him over Mecha Sonic's head across the room, slamming him against the ceiling and letting him crash back to the floor.

"Mario!" Luigi cried as he and the others made to go after Mecha Sonic, who was closing in on the downed plumber. Then, suddenly, a massive BattleMech-sized machine dropped through a hatch in the ceiling, cutting them off from their friend. It was almost as pudgy as the doctor leering at them through the glass dome on top, but plated with super-armored scarlet titanium. The ends of its angled arms consisted of unwelcoming metal spikes rather than fingers, and a large jetpack was attached to its back.

"Uh-oh," Luigi said.

Their side of the room erupted in a conflux of flashing bombs, fireballs, missiles, Thundershocks, eggs, flying fists, kicks, and Rollouts. The Mech disgorged all kinds of exploding projectiles, occasionally dashing forward in an attempt to run some of them into the wall, at other times extending its spiked arms to try and impale them. Occasionally, it would boost itself into the air and come crashing down, very nearly stomping some of them into the ground.

While the rest of the Smashers set about combatting Eggman's Mech, Mario rolled out of the way just in time to prevent Mecha Sonic from crushing him into the metal floor. He hopped to his feet and spun to face his enemy, straightening his cap and narrowing his eyes.

"Let's a-go!"

Mecha Sonic buzzed with a deep electronic laugh, curled up into a ball, and rolled toward him at breathtaking speed.

Mario countered with a Mario Tornado, spinning in sync with the robotic hedgehog, the two grinding against and bouncing off each other like tops. Mario jumped out of his spin and pushed off the far wall, then slammed his Ultra Hammer into Mecha Sonic, sending it crashing to the ground. While still airborne, he followed up with a trio of fireballs, which would have met their mark had Mecha Sonic not blasted them away with several thick laser beam segments.

Mecha Sonic propelled itself back up using rockets on the bottom of its feet and punched Mario right in the gut, parting him from his hammer and pushing him all the way into the glass window, which was thankfully much, much harder than actual glass. It raised a spinning sawblade at the end of its other arm and brought it toward Mario's neck.

Mecha Sonic shuddered as several thousand volts coursed through it from Cypher's zapper, wreaking all kinds of internal damage to its machinery and leaving it to collapse, smoking and motionless.

Mario dropped to the floor, panting. He nodded his thanks to Cypher, picked up his hammer, and prepared to smash Mecha Sonic's head into a mechanical pancake.

"Mario, wait!"

He paused, confused by Cypher's request. The hovering camera circled around Mecha Sonic, its lenses twisting and refocusing.

"I think…this is more than just a robot!"

"Hm?" Mario lowered his hammer and scrutinized the metal face. Then he remembered the small creatures down on Mobius—real animals trapped in mechanical forms. Could it be? There was one way to find out.

Mario pulled out a Time Flute from his trousers (after Hyrule, each of the Smashers had been given a few of their own, just in case) and played it as best as he could.

The melody summoned golden sparks around Mecha Sonic, breaking down the armor and revealing the battered but breathing hedgehog underneath.

"It's a-him! The real Sonic!"

Sonic groaned and raised his head. "M-Mario? What the…" Then he spotted the ongoing commotion across the room and his eyes widened. "Eggman! But the Chaos Emeralds, and the Kingdom Hearts…you can't…" He tried to get up, only to fall back down. Mario leaned over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't a-worry; we've a-got this!"

As formidable as the Mech was, it had been designed to squash annoying speedy animals—not an onslaught of highly experienced tournament fighters, including magical princesses, high-tech bounty hunters, supernaturally powered Pokémon, ravenous Star Warriors, and least of all a giant monkey that didn't at all appreciate seeing other animals in captivity.

It had injured Yoshi and Jigglypuff and nearly crushed Luigi into a meatball, and its armor had withstood most of their attacks. But Eggman hadn't been quite prepared for DK's furious pounce onto the transparent dome behind which he controlled the Mech. The Kong pounded on the reinforced glass like a giant throwing a temper tantrum. Eggman grinned as the blows failed to penetrate his durable material, but that grin faded when DK swapped strategies: He began prying the titanium plates around the base of the dome, bending them back like the peel of a banana.

A few seconds and one piercing simian cry later, Eggman found himself and his dome ripped clean out of the Mech and tossed to the floor, sparking wires still attached to the dome's underside like the thrashing lappets of a jellyfish. The Mech itself fell to its knees and then crashed against the floor like a headless Transformer.

They all surrounded Eggman in his little dome, DK looking particularly triumphant.

"Game's up, fuzz-face."

Dr. Robotnik gulped, noticing Sora and Sonic among his attackers—then allowed himself a deranged smile. "Is it? Are you all really that naïve, or have you forgotten the power at my fingertips? You may have bested my gadgets, but you shall cower and crumble before my greatest creation—my Ultimate Life Form!"

He laughed and pressed a big red button from within his tiny dome, at which point the entire wall opposite the Death Egg's wide window slid apart, revealing another Sonic-shaped individual. Except this one was black with red stripes, his eyes filled with unhindered rage, his form glowing with a gold aura from the seven Chaos Emeralds hovering in a circle above him.

Shadow the Hedgehog.

"Chaos… _CONTROL!"_

All the Smashers were frozen in place, helpless before the full might of Mobius's greatest power source. Even Cypher was rendered immobile. The entire command bridge was saturated with swirling magenta energy, which glowed brightest in Shadow's eyes.

"Shadow…" Sonic mumbled. The two of them had a long, complicated history, full of betrayal and redemption and unstable friendship. Shadow had been created by Dr. Robotnik to destroy Sonic, but had ultimately asserted his own free will and turned on the doctor, even siding with Sonic when the occasion called for it. He, however, was not much of a team player. During the War of the Hands he had pursued his own interests, siding with Master Hand until he experienced the horror of watching his friends being transformed into lifeless trophies. Then, during the Copyright Wars, he had proven a great—albeit headstrong and ofttimes reckless—asset in dismantling the corruption within Microsoft. And now…he was Heartless. And dangerous.

Shadow smirked. "I see the Smashers messed with your mind, Sonic; never fear—the Heartless can give that a quick fix. For now, content yourself to watch the Chaos Emeralds being used to their full potential! Mobius was never our home; it was but a stepping stone to greater power, to our unlimited destiny! These Nintendonians would strip us of that future…and for that, they must pay."

The magenta aura not only kept Sonic's body motionless; it also had a peculiar, anxiety-inducing effect on his mind, making him feel existentially out of place, as if time and hope were slipping away simultaneously.

"No…don't!" Sonic said. "You're giving Eggman exactly what he wants. I know the Heartless have a hold on you, Shadow, but you've gotta fight it!"

"All the Heartless have done is open my eyes to the truth." Shadow squeezed his fists together, and with a blinding flash, his body was transformed to a golden sheen, radiating power equal to any collection of Power Stars or Triforce pieces. Powerful enough to destroy everyone in this room and more in the blink of an eye.

Each of the Smashers struggled to reach for their Time Flutes, but it was no use. They couldn't move a muscle.

"The truth," Sonic said, hiding the fact that he was starting to break down mentally and emotionally, "is that you've been full of darkness your whole life—but what made you really great was your ability to harness that tragic past…the organizations that tried to manipulate you for their own agendas…the death of your friend Maria that caused you to snap…if anyone's learned how to control their own darkness, Shadow, it's you!"

 _Maria._

The magenta glare in Shadow's eyes flickered with doubt for an instant. He paused.

"Kill them, Shadow!" Eggman shrieked. "I command you to kill them now!"

Shadow seemed to consider both Robotnik's and Sonic's words. Finally, after a long, tense moment…

"Power," Shadow said, "is being able to control my own destiny. And what good is my strength if I have to answer to you every time I use it, doctor?"

Eggman's eyes widened. "Wait; don't you—"

The bright beam engulfed him, shattering the dome and sending its fragments flying in every direction, many of which lacerated the motionless Smashers. Once the beam thinned out, Eggman was still somehow intact, though he was flat on his back with a dazed expression, a keyhole shape flashing on his chest.

But Shadow didn't release the others. He turned to Sonic. "Now give me one good reason why I shouldn't do the same to you and your posse of pathetic friends."

Sonic was at a loss. He felt like he'd already used all his best arguments to win his friend back. "Because…um…"

"Because we can grant you greater power still."

Shadow turned to the speaker—Zelda—a bit surprised. "What is this power? Give it to me."

"I cannot unless you release me," she said calmly.

Shadow snapped his finger. Zelda alone regained use of her limbs. "Try anything funny…any tricks…and I'll snap your pretty little neck."

"No tricks," Zelda said, pulling out a Time Flute and placing it in Shadow's hand. "Only truth. This instrument contains a musical power beyond anything I've ever felt in Hyrule…or anything you've felt in Mobius. It will speak peace to your soul—something I've needed now more than ever—which is the ultimate power: power over your own mind. But it is a power that you must choose for yourself."

Shadow hesitated. There was a clear internal struggle going on within him, opposing ideals and desires crashing against each other like rivaling tidal waves, the hold of the Heartless standing resolute against the nagging impressions and reminders of the light within his darkened heart.

Was this a trap?

Finally, a solution presented itself that satisfied both his suspicion and his curiosity. He pressed the Time Flute back into Zelda's hands.

"Show me."

Zelda nodded, pressed the wooden relic softly to her lips, and began to play.

Again came the sparkles, and this time Shadow was the focus of their efforts, his evil tendencies once again becoming subjugate to his control over his own internal chaos—Chaos Control or not.

Shadow relinquished the Chaos Emeralds' channeling energy, causing them to morph into the single Master Emerald and move into Sonic's hands. He took a knee, winded not by physical exertion, but by psychological agony.

Sonic dashed forward and embraced his friend, laughing. "You did it!"

Shadow coughed. "If by 'it' you mean allow my Heartless self to be tricked by Zelda…then yes."

Zelda smiled, feeling oddly at peace with…everything. There was something strangely liberating about guiding other hearts to happiness, even when she felt that happiness would never touch hers again. " _Did_ I trick you, though?"

Meanwhile, Sora and the rest of the Smashers, freed from Shadow's Chaos Control, encircled Eggman once more, who was grumbling to himself and appeared too exhausted to move.

"You…cheaters…" he muttered like a bratty little boy.

Sora came to the front and raised his arm, allowing the Kingdom Key to form in his hand. He narrowed his eyes.

"Dr. Robotnik," he said, "you have failed this kingdom."

And he drove his Keyblade through the flashing keyhole and into Eggman's heart.

There was no long, drawn-out, whiny scream. Eggman's body simply broke apart into an upward torrent of brilliant white-gold hearts, which rose through the ceiling into who-knew-where.

There was silence. An air of near disbelief at what they had accomplished.

"That's it?" Samus said finally. "No final supervillain forms? Or at least a self-destruct countdown?"

Sonic smiled, his arm around Shadow, both of them weak, but inexpressibly happy. He again nodded his gratitude at Zelda, and watched out the wide window with the rest as the dust didn't just miraculously clear away, and Mobius wasn't magically restored to its former vibrant self. It was just a lightness of heart that hadn't been there before, but now permeated all of them. It was a clarity that signified their freedom.

"I think we've had enough excitement for one day."


	18. Chapter 14: The Forsworn

" _You warm-bloods aren't from around here."_

 _ **~Sparx**_

* * *

Chapter 14: The Forsworn

* * *

 **Dream Forest**

 **Glade of Dreams**

* * *

 ** _T_** he wonky plant life of the Dream Forest had been rather uninviting even before the Heartless. Some looked like bright-colored Truffula trees straight out of _The Lorax_ ; others resembled twisting wooden Krakens snaking their way above and across the ground; still others were covered in unsettling, serrated leaves that looked like they wanted to eat you, and some of them, in fact, did. The atmosphere had been made even spookier by odd animal noises and the feral Lums and Electoons which sought to cause mischief—of the harmful variety—to any stranger that wandered into their labyrinthine woods.

Emerging from the shadows into one of the forest's few open clearings, an immense amethyst dragon crushed the pale mossy ground beneath its claws as it approached the silhouette of a man standing on an ancient tree stump. The dragon's eyes seared through the darkness, almost as white and bright as (and significantly more malevolent than) Professor U. Reeka's R.A.W.s. Its horns curved up like demonic curly brackets, its leathery hide as impervious to the elements as its heart was impervious to sympathy. Scalding steam blew through its nostrils as it beckoned toward its fellow Vassal and spoke in a thunderous, but articulate, voice.

"The stump of Polokus suits you well, Commander Sigma…unlike its previous oaf of an owner."

In the swaying of the trees, a beam of sunlight penetrated the canopy and shed a strip of light on the bulky human silhouette, revealing a cruel, strangely smooth face with pupilless azure eyes, a black scar running down through each socket, a round ruby embedded in his bare forehead. His square-sculpted jaw was set in a rather vicious smile, and his voice was was even deeper than the dragon's, like some kind of sinister electric bass.

"Then it's a good thing you've ensured that the Heartless robbed the god of the Forest of whatever little sanity he had left."

The dragon's massive wings stretched and then contracted in amusement. "Vassals rarely cross into each other's stewardships. For what purpose have you come?"

Sigma stepped off the stump and began pacing along the forest floor, the rest of his body still concealed in shadow. "The Smash Brothers have come, as Master Xehanort has no doubt informed you. But now…I have received word that our associate up north—the Desolator—has fallen to them. Which means they'll be coming for us next."

The dragon expelled a small spurt of flames as if it were spitting on the faces of its enemies. "Let them come. Robotnik was cunning, but foolishly bogged down by his quirky projects. The Nintendonians will cower before the Aether…as has the Dragon Realm."

Sigma nodded. "Their only advantage is the boy, Sora. Beware of his Keyblade, for it's the one weapon that can pierce through even the Kingdom Hearts. But on the same token, put an end to him, Malefor…and then the rest of the Smash Brothers will be finished."

A fearsome aura of emerald energy shone around Malefor's reptilian body. "I will burn him to a cinder…should I be privileged with the opportunity before you."

Sigma then returned to the stump, and his body began to shimmer and flicker as he prepared to teleport.

"Then I can only hope chance favors me with that opportunity first. I've notified The Mystic in Microsoft of the situation…so once the rebels are no more, we shall celebrate Smash Planet's consummation together. Until then."

His figure flashed faster and faster like a spinning coin, and then vanished, leaving the Dream Forest's convoluted contours behind.

* * *

 **Kyzil Plateau**

 **Veldin**

* * *

Ratchet's garage didn't seem like the most natural choice for the Smash Brothers and liberated Sonians to meet at first. But considering the fact that Mobius was still more or less a wasteland, Shadow Moses Island was filled with nuclear waste, and Sly Cooper simply didn't want to show everyone how to get inside his secure Cooper family manor on Kaine Island, the Veldinian outpost on Kyzil Plateau was the only viable option.

People were seated on toolboxes and machine parts and a few stools scattered around the mechanic's shop, some watching absent-mindedly as Ratchet and Clank went about their usual business of making endless modifications to their ship, Aphelion. The desert landscape and tin huts and screw-shaped platforms outside the open garage door weren't much to look at, and the garage itself, though kept reasonably organized, was quite filthy. And yet, the overall feelings of gladness and accomplishment and blissful release made the place seem like a paradise.

"Well, it's good to hear that Yoshi and Jigglypuff are doing better," Sonic said, preferring to stand. Shadow was leaning against the wall with folded arms beside him.

Mario nodded. "Egg-a-man's mech did a number on them, but at least his machines and his a-base are gone now." Following Eggman's defeat, the Smashers had made sure to shut down or destroy the Death Egg's numerous weapons before returning to Smash Planet (they didn't blow it up for fear of the damage a falling metal moon could cause to Sony). In addition, all the Mobian critters who had been imprisoned by Eggman's robotic prisons were freed, so while the region's plant life would take a long time to grow back, Mobius was already on its way to recovery.

"Gee," Sly Cooper said, fingering his hooked staff. "I'm sure glad Robotnik didn't use that thing on my island. My security equipment's super expensive, and my family fortune wasn't exactly left to me in anticipation of a laser apocalypse."

Ratchet slid back out from beneath the Aphelion on his creeper, OmniWrench in hand. "You're telling me, guy; it was bad enough being a stingy ship salesman for three years living with a tin can who refused to accept anything that wasn't a well-documented empirical fact."

"Excuse me?" Clank protested, the propeller on his head bearing him over from one of the tool shelves.

Snake cleared his throat. "In any case, at the risk of sounding redundant, you Smash Brothers cannot comprehend how indebted we are to you. As the first part of This World freed from the Heartless, we're safe from Xehanort's intrusions and are able to meet together as we have today. Now the question remains…where will you go next, and how will we help you get there?"

Everyone looked to Mario for an answer. This question, at least, wasn't hard for him.

"It's a-time to contact Pit again," he said. "Or at least to a-try." He nodded to DK, who flicked one of the Skyworld pebbles into a puddle of oil that had accumulated near the Aphelion's fuel tank.

They waited in anticipation as the ripples went out across the dark liquid…and then, to their relief, the ripples recolored and formed the outline of the familiar angelic Smash Brother. He looked tired and a bit disheveled, but otherwise healthy.

"Guys!" he said. "I'm _so_ sorry I couldn't respond last time. Lady Palutena has been growing suspicious about what I'm doing at the Reflection Pool all the time. It's only been a couple days since she stopped watching everything I do; now she's off making cloud sculptures in her own image or something, but we'd best make this quick and stick to night visits in the future if we can."

"We're a-glad you're safe," Mario said. He briefly explained how they had reached Sony and defeated the first Vassal.

Pit grinned. "Man, you guys are really on a roll now, huh? Well let me see what I can do to keep that going…" He turned away to adjust and examine the Smash Planet map in the Reflection Pool, zooming in with his fingers to focus on Sony and taking note of the various markings scattered around the regions.

"Looks like the other two Sony Vassals are in Megaland and the Dragon Realm. Megaland's much closer, so…"

But Shadow shook his head. "You cannot go there."

Samus raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"The Vassal there—known as the Maverick—enclosed the entire region in a high-tech barrier called the Skull Dome. Not only is it impenetrable to physical assaults, but it's been strengthened by the Kingdom Hearts in such a way that you can't even get past it with the Chaos Emeralds like most of us did to come here. Not even the Twelve, with their special access to other regions, will be able to cross over."

"Well, that's a problem," DK said. "So…Dragon Realm, then?"

Mario nodded. "For a-now; hopefully by the time we beat the Vassal there, we'll a-find a way into Megaland to reach a-the Maverick."

"Uh…I think there's another problem," Sonic said. "The Chaos Emeralds have only ever been used by Mobians; but neither Shadow nor I can leave Eggman's territories. So I guess you'll have to go the long way after all."

"Thad depends," Zelda said. She addressed Shadow. "I am skilled with magic; do you think you could teach me to use the Emeralds?"

Shadow looked surprised, but considered it. "Maybe…but it'll take some time."

"Party?" Kirby suggested.

Snake chuckled. "The pink one's right; you Smashers need a few days to recover before tackling the next Vassal. We should celebrate this victory as the first of many more to come."

"Yeah!" Luigi agreed. "Let's a-boogie!"

"But…" Sora, who appeared to be the only one anxious to move on, appealed to Mario with a meaningful look. "What if Xehanort finds us here?"

Mario furrowed his brow. "It's a-possible; but we'll be a-safe as long as we're in the freed regions. And having the Chaos Emeralds will a-be worth the wait in the long a-run."

Red put a hand on Sora's shoulder and smiled. "You've been doing great, Sora. But even heroes need time to relax."

Sora sighed, but finally consented. "All right. I didn't sleep very well on that dragon anyways."

* * *

For the next three days, the Smashers did just as they had discussed—rest and prepare. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, and Big the Cat were available to take anyone across Eggman's former stewardship using Chaos Emeralds. Shadow, on the other hand, spent most of all three days with Zelda, training her with the purple Emerald.

"The magic of the Emeralds is not the same as that of your Triforce," Shadow said as they trained one day on the craterous ruins of Angel Island. "You're used to the power coming from a deity; but the Chaos Emeralds find their energy source in nature itself. You must connect with the life force in the same way you connect with your Hylian goddesses. Now try again."

Zelda held the purple gem in her hands and closed her eyes, trying to feel for this "life force" of which Shadow had spoken. But it was difficult; her soul, though lightened somewhat by her experiences on the Death Egg, was still burdened by thoughts of Link, and even of Ganondorf. For someone who had long grown used to the responsibility of being a princess, she was finding it remarkably difficult to assume control of the full Triforce power, her emotions, her doubts, her regrets, and her responsibilities all at the same time.

Try as she might, all she could produce was a faint glow within the center of the Emerald.

Shadow shook his head, coming forward and taking the Emerald in his own hand. "Remember what you did for me on the Death Egg, Zelda. Remember how you felt when you played the Time Flute. Be at peace with yourself, and with nature, and it will come to you. Picture in your mind where you would have it take you." He closed his eyes and teleported from his current position to a large chunk of earth a quarter mile away, and then back again. He handed the Emerald back to her. "Again."

Zelda took a deep breath and shut her eyes once more, concentrating on the serenity she'd felt with the Time Flute's magic at work. It had been as if she'd somehow known that even with all the tragedy and heartache she'd faced, everything would be all right in the end.

She opened her eyes, and suddenly she was half a mile away from Shadow. She blinked in surprise, not having felt anything more than a slight brush of air. She focused again and was almost immediately back in front of Shadow.

Shadow smirked. "Good; but that was just a short distance. Now we learn how to travel long distances—even to places you've never been."

* * *

"What's up, bro?"

Luigi had finally found Mario sitting on one of the strange screw-shaped platforms of Kyzil Plateau. The red-capped hero looked distant, and Luigi knew when something was bothering him.

Mario didn't look over as Luigi sat beside him; he just continued to stare off into the dusty distance. "I almost a-killed him. Sonic. Back in the Death Egg."

Luigi remembered getting a glance of Mario's confrontation with Mecha Sonic while he'd been dealing with Eggman's mech. "You didn't a-know it was him, bro. Eggman was a-trying to trick you."

Mario didn't say anything for a long while.

"What if Xehanort's a-right? What if we're all a-monsters on the inside even without the Heartless?" Mario didn't say it, but Luigi knew what he was thinking: that he didn't deserve to lead the Smash Brothers or to be Peach's hero after what had almost happened. Little did Luigi know that Bowser's counsel to never let the princess down had made the idea take even stronger root in Mario's mind.

"You don't really believe that. Yes, we did a-things the last three years we're not a-proud of. But believing that's all we are—that's what Xehanort a-wants. For us to doubt our own a-goodness."

At that, Mario smiled slightly and finally looked at his brother. "How do you a-do it?"

"What?"

"Have such a good a-heart, no matter what. Like a-Peach. Never bitter when you don't a-get attention. Always seeing the best in everyone."

Luigi had never considered himself that way. "Maybe I'm a-different from you, bro. You're the brave one, the strong one. But just because we're not all a-the same hero, that doesn't a-make you any less of one. That's what the Smash a-Brothers are all about, right?"

Mario felt a strange peace come over him, eclipsed only slightly by L.O.G.'s existential words which continued to nag at him from the backburner.

"Thanks, Luigi. You're a-right."

* * *

"Lost in thought, I see."

Snake turned to find Samus joining him in the large hangar of Shadow Moses Island's base. It was huge and empty, occupied only by a couple piles of metal crates, a few distant memories, and one lonely soldier.

Snake turned back again as if transfixed by the open floor, allowing Samus (who had opted for her Zero Suit during her days of rest) to sit on the crate beside him.

"This is where the Captain and I first met…though it wasn't exactly under the friendliest of circumstances, was it?" He laughed softly, pointing to a scorch mark on the ground where one of his own grenades had exploded with the intent of scaring the Smashers away.

Samus rested her elbow companionably on Snake's shoulder and smiled sadly. "Good times."

They sat in silence for a while, the only sound the humming of the lights above.

"The past three years…" Snake finally looked at her. "It was just the Heartless, wasn't it? It didn't mean anything?"

Samus took a long time to answer. "The Heartless pushed us into a selfish relationship…but a relationship nonetheless. One that must have had roots deep within us all along. Xehanort's style was never to force us to do things we weren't already capable of."

Snake's features relaxed, an otherwise internal tension loosened. "So…what now?"

"Now…" Samus's mind flashed back to the most terrible moment of her life: when she and Snake had had to abandon Captain Falcon on the exploding Spartan Frigate. "You remember the last thing he said to us?"

Snake didn't even have to ask who "he" was. He nodded. "Take care of each other." He slowly reached over and took Samus's hand.

"Things might be as messed up as Hell right now," Samus said. "But once this is all over…I think it's worth a shot." She smiled at Snake.

Snake wanted to feel happy, to accept that his life could find true and lasting peace. But it seemed too good to be true. "I wish I could come with you."

"Through Cypher, you will," Samus said.

"Yes," Snake said. "Assuming that machine doesn't have the battery life of a 21st-century smart phone."

"A what?"

"Never mind."

Snake thought about the upgrades he'd made to Cypher so that it would hopefully endure for quite some time, especially with the spare parts and extra batteries he was going to send with Samus. "Still…I wish I knew more about the Sony Vassals to be of greater help."

Samus snorted. "Well, if you could build some kind of Metal Gear monster that can magically suck all our problems away in an otherwise harmless mushroom cloud, that would be great."

Something clicked in Snake's mind. He stood abruptly.

"Where are _you_ going?"

Snake was already halfway out the door by the time he heard Samus's question. "You've given me an idea."

Samus raised an eyebrow and called after him.

"Glad I could help."

* * *

They gathered at the southern edge of Mobius. The mostly lifeless landscape cut off suddenly against the disturbing wall of electric blue skulls that marked the beginning of the Maverick's Skull Dome which enclosed all of Megaland. A few bored Mobians had tried throwing rocks at it, but they bounced off with a deadly sizzle that was not at all reassuring.

And there they stood: Yoshi; DK; Red; Kirby; Luigi; Mario; Samus; Zelda; Sora. The travelers who were charged with the task of saving the rest of the Smash Universe from Xehanort—and from itself. And standing in a semicircle around them were the liberated Sonians: Snake; Sonic; Shadow; Tails; Knuckles; Amy; Cream; Big the Cat; Ratchet and Clank; Sly Cooper. It was a moment that seemed as sacred as the maiden voyage of _The King's Krystal_.

Shadow approached Zelda and solemnly placed the purple Chaos Emerald in her hands. He nodded with approval and respect—both sentiments that were rarely found in the hedgehog Eggman had dubbed the Ultimate Life Form.

"You're ready."

Zelda acknowledged his offering. "Thanks to your help, Shadow."

But that wasn't the only gift to be offered before the Smashers' departure. Ratchet approached Mario and, to the plumber's great shock, offered up his precious one-of-a-kind OmniWrench.

Mario pulled back. "I can't take a-this."

Ratchet pressed it into his hands nonetheless, grinning. "You forget that I'm familiar with your fighting style, guy. We fought once…on Yoshi's Island way back during the First Copyright Wars, remember?"

Mario nodded, although after L.O.G.'s memory tampering, their battle wasn't as vivid as it might have been. "Mm-hm."

"That hammer of yours is pretty handy," Ratchet continued," but let's face it, guy—people have been watching you fight for a long time. Sooner or later you're gonna run out of new tricks, and that's when Xehanort'll nip you in the bud. You've seen my wrench in action enough to have a general idea of how it works, and I trust you'll make much better use of it out there than I would here."

"You would be wise to avail yourself of my associate's valuable asset," Clank added from his shoulder.

Mario shrugged and took it, though he almost dropped the heavy tool immediately, having underestimated the physical strength of such a slender Lombax.

"Thanks!"

Sly Cooper sauntered up to Red with a grin and presented him with his Cooper Cane, the golden hook on top glinting like a 24-carat question mark.

Red backed away, shaking his head. "No way, Mr. Cooper; I'm no good at physical combat, and you'd kill me if I broke your staff!"

The thieving raccoon laughed. "Well, yeah; but the way I see it, if you and your friends don't succeed in this mission of yours, we're all dead anyways. The Cooper Cane has yet to have an owner who's let it down or _been_ let down. Bentley's remodeled it to fit your measurements, so it'll feel as if you've been fighting with it your whole life. And face it, kid…you may have some pretty slick Pokémon to protect you, but you need to be able to defend yourself, too—with something more than just those flutes and water bottles."

Red thought of protesting further, but realized it was no use. He just nodded and took the cane, which did in fact feel surprisingly light and comfortable in his grip.

Finally, Snake came forward, bearing Cypher over to the group. He handed it to Samus and smiled at them all.

"Never feel alone, Smash Brothers; I will be with you, and I believe this Hand of Fate of which many have been speaking will be on your side. Now…one small thing before you go." He nodded to Luigi, who stepped aside—with Kirby—and turned to face the others.

Luigi gulped, hoping his brother wouldn't be too mad, and spoke. "I'm, uh…I'm a-going with a-Kirby on a different mission."

"What?" DK said.

"Luigi?" Mario was not angry, but puzzled. "What's a-going on?"

"Luigi and Kirby have agreed to go on a special assignment," Snake said. "While the rest of you go after the Vassal in the Dragon Realm, they're gonna follow a lead I have on a possible way to get past that Skull Dome."

"Okay," Sonic said, also confused. "But where are they going? And how? Zelda's the only one of you who can use the Chaos Emeralds."

"Star!" Kirby cheered, as a glinting Warpstar heeded his summons and shot from the sky until it hovered in front of him.

"It's a-hard to explain," Luigi said, "but we're a-going to Craftworld."

Mario stepped past the other Smashers and took Luigi in a hug. "See you a-soon, then."

"See you later, bro!"

DK and the other clueless Smashers shrugged or just dealt with the sudden change of plans, and they all gathered around Zelda's Chaos Emerald as Luigi hopped onto the Warpstar behind Kirby.

"Remember," Snake said. "We're all Smash Brothers; we're all All-Stars; we're all Sentinels. Xehanort can't keep apart what was always meant to be together. Now move out, soldiers; I'll see you on the battlefield!"

"Bye!" Kirby and Luigi waved as they sped away toward the ocean to the west, from which point they would follow Sony's coast counterclockwise until they reached their destination. One moment they were there, and the next they were a glittering speck in the distance.

"We'll see you again when all of Sony is free," Zelda said. "Now…everyone gather close."

The Smashers (and Red and Sora, who were not technically Smashers in the strictest sense, but were Smashers in spirit) all came together to where they could each touch Zelda's hands or arms as she focused the Chaos Emerald's magic…and winked them away.

* * *

 **Dragon Realm**

* * *

Zelda was the only one among them who had visited the Dragon Temple before (as Tetra), and so she was the one whose eyes widened in surprise at how dramatically the place had changed since last time.

Whereas Mobius had gone from paradise to wasteland, the dense swamps surrounding the Dragon Temple had undergone more or less the opposite. In place of putrid muck were neat grassy paths which wove between placid ponds and gnarled trees that appeared less monstrous and more enchanting now that the humid tarn had been cleaned out. The aroma of rich purple flowers with ladylike elegance drifted through the air, providing a welcome change to the dust and dirt of Mobius and Veldin—not to mention the trace radioactive remnants on Shadow Moses Island.

Zelda's eyes were nearly scalded, however, by the brilliant structure before them. The Dragon Temple, which had before been crumbling and caving in and overgrown with ivy and fungus, was as immaculate and perfect as if it had just been finished yesterday. The polished gold surfaces reflected the sunlight into Zelda's eyes, the hexagonal domes and dragon-sculpture columns and hieroglyphic legends carrying all the awe of the Great Pyramid—if the pyramid's walls and ornaments had all been dusted and polished and refurbished on a regular basis, that is.

"Um," DK said, speaking everyone's mind, "isn't this supposed to be a pile of marshy ruins?"

Cypher sped around, taking in the pristine temple and surrounding landscape. "This is very strange," Snake's voice admitted. "I would think a Vassal called 'the Forsworn' would be a little more…destructive."

"That's because the Dragon Temple is Malefor's legacy, warm-bloods!"

A burst of fire came out of nowhere and struck DK, though he was fortunately blasted straight into one of the pools which immediately extinguished the flames.

"DK!" Sora wanted to go to the Kong's aid, but at the moment his and the others' attention was very much held by the circling figure of Spyro above them.

"Piikaaa…" Pikachu's cheeks were sparking, ready to unleash a Thunder to bring the dragon down.

But his Trainer, who was frankly tired of fighting his own friends, was one step ahead. Seconds after DK's unlucky tumble, Red had a Time Flute to his lips and was blowing as hard as he could, hoping the music would carry up to the Heartless All-Star some forty feet above.

It did. The Time Flute did its thing, and moments later, the dragon was slowly spiraling down to them. He landed and folded back his wings, laughing sheepishly.

"My bad, guys…I guess those weird Heartless creatures turned me into a completely different person."

"Actually," Sparx the firefly said, having been concealed on one of the Dragon Temple's ledges after informing Spyro of the intruders, "you were still you—just an even more arrogant, reckless, full-of-it, newt-minded version of yourself."

Spyro narrowed his eyes, his guilt already forgotten. "Yeah, well, nobody asked you, you little gnat!"

"What did you mean by Malefor's legacy?" Zelda asked.

"Well," Spyro said, glancing back at the Dragon Temple, "I'll tell you my story if you all tell me yours. But for now, let's just say that going in there is _not_ a good idea. How about we take a flight—er…" He noticed the clear lack of wings on all of the Smashers. "…a walk, then."

* * *

Once Spyro was up to date, he explained his side as they walked among the twisting trees of the beautiful, thinly forested fields.

"The Dragon Realm has always been protected by the Dragon Guardians," he began. "All of 'em are in the temple right now, under the Heartless' control, which is why we had to move away from it. But once every thousand years, a special Purple Dragon is born, with the destiny to shape the fate of our kingdom during the next millennium. Of course, these dragons are _really_ powerful—like myself." Sparx rolled his tiny insect eyes. "The first one…Malefor…he was bred of pure evil, and wreaked terrible destruction upon our lands during his era—until the Dragon Guardians were finally able to stop him and trap him in a magical prison dimension called Convexity."

"Like how Ganon was sealed in the Sacred Realm in Hyrule," Zelda said.

"Sure," Spyro said, having absolutely no idea whether the two realms were actually anything alike. "So when I became the next Purple Dragon, some dark forces stirred that wanted to bring Malefor back. A tribe of crazy Apes and some other baddies actually managed to break him out, so it was up to me to take him down for good."

"Only for Xehanort to bring him back again," Samus guessed.

Spyro nodded. "If what you say is true, and this Sora kid can stop Malefor, then I'll do everything I can to help you get that chance. But don't be fooled—the Forsworn may have brought the Dragon Realm back to its former glory, but he only did it because…well, let me put it this way. You know how dragons are typically considered territorial creatures? Think of that, and then multiply it by a hundred thousand and five and compound it with the powers of Aether and Kingdom Hearts, and then you have Malefor. He's one nasty dude."

"And five?" Sparx said.

"So where do we a-find him?" Mario asked.

Spyro looked uncertain. "That's the thing; Malefor controls not just the Dragon Realm, but also the Tasmanian Islands, the Glade of Dreams, and Craftworld. He could be in any of them, and even if he's still here in the Dragon Realm like your friend Pit claims, it's a pretty big place. I'll have to sneak back into the temple and take a peek in the Pool of Visions, which should be more specific on his location than Pit's Reflection Pool."

"Fair enough," Snake said through Cypher. "What would you have us do, then?"

Spyro shrugged. "Wait here, I guess. The Guardians will just assume I'm up to my normal mischief; if they saw any of you, though, I can guarantee there would be an elemental whirlwind of dragon fury. So, uh…Sparx, tell them some jokes or something. I'll be back soon!"

He lifted away and was off back toward the Dragon Temple, leaving the Smashers to wait around a cluster of Twizzler-like trees. Red went with his Pokémon and with Yoshi to dip his hands and feet in one of the pools, leaving Sparx with a rather awkward audience to entertain.

"So, firefly," DK said, resting against the tree with his hands behind his back. "entertain us."

Sparx gulped, eyeing Mario, Sora, Samus, and Zelda as well. It didn't look like a very hot crowd.

"Sorry," he said, "but I'm fresh out of _bright_ ideas…" He paused. "Get it? Because my body's _bright,_ but my ideas are—"

"Yeah, okay," DK said. He swung himself onto the tree and quickly climbed to the top, alleviating his boredom with a view of the surrounding countryside.

By that time, Mario and Sora had gone off to join those by the pool, while Samus and Zelda had walked away to have their own private conversation. That left Sparx with just Cypher for company. He sighed, buzzed around for a while, then grew bored and flew over to where he thought the lens was.

"Uh…hi?"

* * *

Samus and Zelda walked slowly through the grassy fields with no particular route in mind. Samus was carrying her helmet under her arm for the time being.

"You're still thinking about him," Samus said. It wasn't a question.

Zelda wasn't sure what to say. How could anyone possibly understand the perpetual anguish she still felt inside? How could they comprehend the emotional magnitude of losing her star-crossed hero and eternal enemy at the same time—all while remaining ignorant of how to actually manage the completed Triforce within her?

"Good," Samus went on. "Link deserves your thoughts. He saved us all from certain failure. Gave us a chance. Gave us hope. You're not the only one who harbors a scar from his absence."

Zelda glanced at Samus in mild surprise. She had completely forgotten that way back when, Samus had traveled with Young Link during the events leading up to the War of the Hands. Link's various incarnations had touched so many people in so many different ways.

Samus paused as they reached the edge of a pool and turned to Zelda. The bounty hunter's eyes were oddly moist. "But take it from someone who's lost her hero too—the last thing he would want is for you to blame yourself. Especially when there's absolutely nothing you could've done."

"It's…" Zelda lowered her eyes, staring at an assemblage of lily pads. "It's not just that."

Samus nodded slowly. "I wish I could make peace with it too. But I guess there are some things that never leave us alone. Maybe for our own good." She wasn't normally one for heart-to-heart conversations, but this was different. This seemed to be as much for herself as it was for her fellow Smasher. "When you talked Shadow down in the heat of his power—even while he was still under the Heartless' control—that's when I knew."

"Knew what?"

Samus smiled. "That Link's still with you, princess. I'd recognize that courage anywhere."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Spyro returned—remarkably, without any angry Dragon Guardians in pursuit. They gathered around him to hear the news.

"So, go figure," Spyro said, "apparently Malefor's holed up in his ancient stronghold, the Mountain of Malefor. Should be about half a day's flight—er, a couple days' walk from here."

"Two questions," DK said. "First—with a name like that, why on earth did we waste our time checking the obvious? Clearly Malefor's going to be in _his_ mountain, and even if he isn't, our intrusion would probably bring him to us pretty quickly."

"Puff," Jigglypuff said, meaning, "He's got a point."

"And second," DK continued, "why didn't Zelda just Chaos Emerald Samus's gunship here with us so we won't have to go all the way on foot? Not to steal your thunder or anything, President Jumpman," he added, glancing at Mario.

"No, it's a good idea," Mario said.

There was an awkward silence. Then Mario turned to Zelda and Samus. "Can you a-do it?"

They glanced at each other and nodded.

"Be right back," Samus said, placing a hand on Zelda's Chaos Emerald before it whisked them away.

* * *

Samus's gunship followed Spyro over the former swamp, most of its passengers somewhat put off by Donkey Kong's brazen attitude, but secretly grateful for his practical ideas.

"Pi Pikachu?" the Pokémon asked, meaning, "Remind me why we can't just use the Chaos Emerald to take us directly to the Vassal, again?"

"It's like Spyro said, warm-bloods," Sparx explained. "The Forsworn's Kingdom Hearts amplify a power called the Dark Aether, which Spyro suspects would make it really dangerous, if not impossible, to teleport near the Mountain of Malefor using magic."

"Jiggly," the Balloon Pokémon said, which translated roughly as, "Convenient."

After some time, the pleasant grasslands gave way to a thickening wood which took on a rather less cheery tone. It was a densely forested mass of mahogany and maple, and though they were flying above the canopy, they could sense the presence of dark secrets lying within. Streams of poisonous maroon water trickled amidst the plant life of the Ancient Grove, the sky above them suffusing the place with an amber light that somehow seemed cold and warm at the same time.

"I take it we're getting close," Sora said, reminded of Halloween Town and wondering whether the Ancient Grove's inhabitants were similarly spooky.

A dragonish snort came through Cypher (Samus had attached a microphone to Spyro so they could communicate with him from within the gunship). "This is nothing. You wanna talk about nightmares? Try dreaming every other night about being trapped in a place called the Well of Souls."

"No thanks," Yoshi said.

Samus kept her eyes trained on the sky, glancing occasionally at her radar in case any unfriendlies tried to ambush them from behind or below.

For another hour or so, they passed over the otherworldly wilds. Spyro's excessively elaborate flight patterns were a clear sign of his perpetual bigheadedness, Heartless or no Heartless. It reminded Samus of Captain Falcon's less mature self, when he would deliberately try and show off just to impress her—usually without success.

At length, the Ancient Grove gave way to a mountainous region, the sky darkening with the setting sun, though some of them suspected a place like this was never truly filled with daylight. The wind began picking up, forcing even a vessel as stable as Samus's gunship to make corrections as it was battered by the violent, moaning air. None of the Smashers envied Spyro at this point, for the cold weather was among the _least_ ominous of the region's features.

The Concurrent Skies were a rocky stretch of giant blue crystals, which protruded from the hard ground like titanic diamond teeth, the little remaining sunlight reflecting off of each acute surface like a field of broken mirrors.

And then, to complete the picture, masses of dark gray clouds hosted bolts of lightning which zigzagged between the pointed tips of the crystals, occasionally shooting up into the clouds with merciless spontaneity.

"You dragons sure know how to decorate," DK said. "The lightning's a bit much, though."

Sparx rolled his eyes. "Everyone's a critic."

They pushed against the howling wind, half-expecting a tornado to appear and spit them out into the shining crystals. With some satisfaction, Samus noticed that Spyro had stopped showing off, requiring all his flying prowess to control his course through the wind-whipped skies.

Over the roar of the thunder, another even more thunderous roar sent a chill down the spines of the gunship's passengers (except for Jigglypuff, who did not, in fact, have a spine).

"What was that?" Red said in a hushed voice. "Malefor?"

"No," Spyro's transmitted voice said as the dragon watched a dark silhouette emerge from the clouds. For once, he didn't sound overly confident. "Cynder."

In her darkened form, she was significantly larger than Spyro, boasting a lean but muscular hide of obsidian black scales, thin, angular wings, a tail serrated with sharpened spikes, and several sleek white horns curving out of the back of her head like giant fangs.

"I'm guessing your girlfriend isn't on our side, Spyro?" Samus said through her microphone.

A large glob of regurgitated green liquid narrowly missed the gunship's windshield, its acidic poison burning through the paint on the roof like heavy-duty stain remover.

"I think that's a no," Sora said.

Spyro belted out a respectable roar of his own, and curved up to meet Cynder before she could bear down upon the gunship like an angry Ridley. Almost too much like Ridley, Samus realized.

The dragons bowled into each other like Simba and Nala, except with scraping claws and snarling snouts and whipping tails, and certainly without feeling the love that night. Samus redirected her ship to follow them down, her fingers poised on her triggers.

"Spyro…get out of the way so I can have a clean shot!"

Spyro would probably have said something about not wanting to hurt his friend more than they had to, but he was a bit preoccupied not allowing Cynder's weight and the wind to drive both of them into the shards of crystal below.

"Can't we use a Time Flute?" Red suggested.

Cypher shook its robotic camera lens. "There's too much noise with the storm; she won't be able to hear it," Snake's voice said.

"Pikaa!"

"I know, Pikachu," Red said. "I wish there was more we could do too."

Sparx, however, just grinned as he hovered near the windshield. "This should be good."

They had no choice but to watch Cynder latch onto Spyro's neck with her teeth and fling him off. He tumbled through the air, but managed to regain balance before he could be impaled on the crystals. Cynder turned to the Smashers' ship, grinned wickedly, and made an ominous gesture with her head.

From below, a host of electric blue spheres rose into the air, climbing through it with spidery red limbs of electricity. The Conduits, as they were called, were zoning in on the gunship.

"Well, at least we have something to do now," DK said as they led the energy creatures away.

Spyro took a deep, sulfurous breath, and then exhaled a steady stream of hot orange flames. Cynder met it with Shadow flames which were somehow even darker than the black sky. The two fiery torrents clashed together like rivaling Bunson Burners, pushing back and forth in that stereotypical energy beam fashion.

Because he knew Cynder so well, Spyro took advantage of her pride by doing the unexpected: He abandoned his flame stream, allowing Cynder's Shadow flames to overwhelm his own. But he also dived underneath it, and then rammed her underside with his horned head.

"Sorry," he said. "But you're in our way; and with the Heartless controlling you, you're even more stubborn than me."

"You mistake power for stubbornness, Spyro." Cynder quickly recovered from his headbutt and pounded her wings hard, pushing herself further back while buffeting Spyro with a strong blast of wind that very nearly speared him on a nearby crystal.

 _This is going nowhere,_ he thought. Then he noticed the occasional lightning streaks jumping from one crystal peak to another, and then up into the clouds. He smiled and narrowed his eyes.

"Over here, you sorry excuse for a lizard!"

That got Cynder's attention. She tilted forward and dive-bombed toward him like a flying demon, shrieking a fearsome Siren Scream whose red energy waves would have paralyzed Spyro had he not rolled out of the way at the last moment. And as he passed beneath Cynder once more, he faced the crystals below and emitted a Thunder Breath.

The spindly electric threads leaped between crystal peaks as if they had lives of their own, all converging on the tallest peak in the area—at which point they joined into one thick bolt and shot into the sky, searing through Cynder on their way out.

The darkened dragon shrieked in pain and dropped toward the surface. Spyro followed and nudged her body to make sure she landed on a rocky ledge empty of deadly crystals.

Cynder's fallen figure twitched. She glared at Spyro with hatred. "Malefor will still destroy you…even without me."

"Maybe," Spyro said. "But _with_ you…we will destroy him together."

Fervently hoping his hunch would prove correct, he drew upon the ancient magic of the Purple Dragons, something he hadn't done since sealing Malefor away last time. The Light Aether, composed of all the elements combined, built up in his throat and then pushed out in a splendorous white beam. It engulfed Cynder in its brilliance, far surpassing that of the blue crystals around them.

Spyro expelled the last of his energy and collapsed onto his haunches, drained of magic.

"Cynder?"

The light faded to reveal his fellow dragon upright and uninjured—and judging by the way she was looking at him, free of the Heartless. Cynder had also shrunken down to Spyro's size.

"What…Spyro?" She blinked and surveyed the sky. Of particular note were the steadily declining shroud of Conduits, which were being blasted from the sky by the lasers and missiles on Samus's gunship. One final charged blast finished them off, and then the vessel made a course straight for them.

Spyro grinned weakly at his friend, trying not to become too transfixed by Cynder's elegant features. "I hope you're not tired, Cynder, because that was just a warm-up."

* * *

The gunship landed where the two dragons lay, the Smashers giving Spyro time to rest after his exhausting demonstration of Light Aether.

"So the Light Aether is a Heart Softener," Sora said as Zelda tended to Spyro with healing magic, a concerned Sparx fluttering nearby. "That's pretty cool."

"Yes," Cynder said, eyeing her friend with concern. "But it's a power the Purple Dragon can use only once in a great while; I don't think Spyro will be able to use it again in time to face Malefor."

Normally, Spyro would deny any claim that even vaguely suggested him being weak, but in this case he said nothing, allowing the Hylian princess to slowly rejuvenate his body with blue sparks from her hands.

"So I'm guessing that's the Mountain of Malefor?" DK directed their gaze to a towering peak in the distance, which was far enough that all they could see were deep veins of glowing emerald running down its black face.

Cynder nodded. "I still think you Nintendonians are out of your mind to go up there…but if you're really convinced you have what it takes to take him down, all power to you. I'd rather die fighting the Forsworn than go back to being his slave a third time…"

Mario didn't bother asking about the first time. "We can do it, if you'll a-show us the way."

Thirty minutes later, Spyro declared himself healthier than a ripe vole during the summer hunting season, so they went on their way. The Mountain of Malefor seemed to stare them down as they approached, like the Eye of Sauron with a green contact lens. Spyro and Cynder flew beside each other (Sparx snickered from his position in Samus's gunship), suspiciously happy together as they led the Smashers toward their final destination.

The raging winds continuously intensified, requiring all the strength the two dragons—and Samus's gunship, for that matter—could muster to prevent being blown off course and dashed to pieces. As the mountain drew near, its details became more distinct. The peak was actually a full-blown Gothic stronghold with dark green walls and many curving horns crowning the towers like some kind of giant evil cactus whose juice had been drained one too many times.

Zelda frowned. It was undeniable—the dark magical presence of this place would have undoubtedly frustrated any attempt of hers to teleport here with a Chaos Emerald, Farore's Wind, or any other spell. The Dark Aether was just as formidable as the Light Aether in its own oppressive way.

"There!" Cynder shouted over the wind, her microphone carrying the message to Samus through Cypher. The dragon was zoning in on a round, pointed opening in the side of the stronghold, just below what appeared to be a gaping dragon skull situated on the very top of the mountain. It was large enough for the gunship to pass through—and for something much larger.

Spyro drew a deep breath, his heart pounding with more than just adrenaline. Try as he might, he couldn't suppress the fear creeping through him upon returning to this forsaken place. "Well, this'll be interesting. Here we go!"

With that, he and Cynder dived straight into the black opening, followed shortly by the gunship.

In the darkness, Samus's floodlights proved instrumental in navigating them through the stronghold's interior, although the two dragons ahead were illuminating their own way by allowing flickering tendrils of flame to glow from within their mouths like unruly flashlights. The cavernous mountain was vast and open, the walls adorned with savage-looking dragon carvings and more long black horns and claws jutting from the sides like the teeth of a Sarlac Pit. The misty depths far below were shrouded in darkness, and as far as any of the Smashers could tell, there was little to no floor space to speak of—which made sense, considering the mountain's namesake.

The misty mountain cave also housed eerie green spheres which drifted aimlessly across the virtually bottomless chasm and down branching halls and through enormous arched bridges like Will-o-the-Wisps.

A hush had fallen over the dragons and Smashers.

"These are the spirits of evil creatures that have been sealed in the Well of Souls for one reason or another," Cynder explained. "Like Gaul and his army of sadistic Apes. They'll be trapped here until their period of punishment is finished, and then they'll be allowed to move on to the afterlife."

"Hm." Mario hadn't much considered the idea of an afterlife; after all, the diverse regions of Smash Planet held such different beliefs about what came after death. He'd always been too focused on the here and now to spend much time pondering anything beyond that. But he supposed, especially with all of the visitations from the dead happening lately, that there must be _something_ more to it all than mere superstition.

 _"An afterlife you will soon beg for, Spyro…as well as your foolish friends."_

They all came to a halt in the air, taken aback by the deep, menacing voice that seemed to echo from every direction. Spyro narrowed his eyes.

"Show yourself, Malefor! We're not afraid of you!"

A flash of emerald green whisked across the chasm from within the mist, and the two piercing white eyes turned to face them, although the face behind those eyes remained hidden.

 _"That is unfortunate, for fear is the only source of strength any of you have left to protect you. Had you heeded it, fear might have spared you the fate you are about to suffer, now that you have dared face me in my own domain!"_

"We'll see about that!" Cynder said, and shot forward, attacking the being in the mist with Shadow flames. She seemed particularly on edge in the Forsworn's presence, most likely because of her memories of being possessed by the evil dragon.

There were multiple roars, and Spyro spared Samus's gunship only a brief glance before rushing in after his would-be girlfriend, adding orange fire to the mix, which chased the mist away and revealed a tangle of dragon wings and limbs. Two of the dragons were overshadowed, however, by the sheer immensity of the third: Malefor was about the size of a sperm whale and many times less tranquil. His bright reptilian eyes flashed between white and emerald green, as if the eyeballs themselves were wrought of some precious reflective glass.

Within Samus's gunship, the Smashers were a bit at a loss on what to do. Samus would have loved to shoot the Vassal out of the air, but again there were friendlies in the way. Zelda couldn't seem to summon any magic in this godforsaken mountain; DK was virtually useless in sky battles; Sparx would be about as helpful as could be expected of a firefly; Cypher was needed for communication purposes; and Red had no access to his Flying Pokémon (like Pidgeot) to make a difference with.

But Mario donned his cape, and Yoshi swallowed another Blue Shell, and Sora, with the dinosaur's permission, climbed onto his saddle, Keyblade generating in his hand.

Mario nodded to Samus. "Open the hatch."

As the floor hatch opened outward, Pikachu joined Sora on Yoshi's back, and with a united yell, they jumped out of the gunship and followed Spyro and Cynder to render what aid they could.

Malefor's body wasn't just impenetrable; it seemed shielded by an emerald aura that deflected dragon fire, Pikachu's electricity, Mario's Fireballs, and Yoshi's eggs all at once. He snarled in amusement as he whipped his tail around, smacking all his opponents halfway across the chasm.

 _"Cynder…when will you learn that it is useless to resist the darkness? It is your destiny to serve me, and now to serve the Heartless. Your small spurts of rebellion only cause you greater pain—and that goes for you also, Nintendonians. You waste Xehanort's gift of a free, painless existence. You inflict the agony of trying to live as something you're not—not just upon yourselves, but upon all those you attempt to snatch away from reality. And this is that reality: All is eternal night! All is carnal and corrupt, and the only life worth living within this truth is one which embraces your core nature."_

"You wanna see my core nature?" In spite of what Cynder had said earlier, Spyro willed himself with all his might to find access to the Light Aether within himself. "How about the natural power of the Purple Dragon—the way it was meant to be used!"

There was precious little Aether left within him, but somehow Spyro managed to convert that supply into a respectable stream of white energy, which attempted to pierce through Malefor—but was deflected just the same.

Malefor's nostrils steamed with triumph. _"I would have thought you'd all learned from your dead friend, the Hero of Legend—not even a Vassal's original weaknesses can stop us with the Kingdom Hearts on our side! He broke his Master Sword against Ganondorf…just as you have broken your own spirit trying the same old Aether trick against me. Now…I shall break something of yours…"_

He swooped forward and grabbed both Spyro and Cynder by their necks and began plunging all three of them straight downward with startling speed.

"After them!" Sora yelled, and accordingly Mario dove toward the mist below and Yoshi made his speediest possible descent in the form of a Ground Pound, while Samus's gunship followed close behind them. As they fell through the mist, the glowing green souls darting out of their way, the pointed emerald horns on the walls threatening to shred them from all sides, Sora felt his heart pounding as much as it had back on that fateful day in the Keyblade Graveyard. He narrowed his eyes.

 _I won't lose any more friends like this._

After what seemed like an eternity of falling, Malefor and his two victims rapidly approached solid ground, which was by now surely far below ground level—the deepest recesses of the Well of Souls. Spyro and Cynder roared in pain as their wings were raked by the proximity of the Dark Aether, tearing through the thin fibers between their wing cartilage. But there was nothing they could do. Their friends above couldn't catch up to them. This was the end of the Legend of Spyro.

Spyro closed his eyes and awaited impact and sudden death.

But there was no impact—just a sudden shift in the air around him, from the stuffy coldness of the Well of Souls to the wind-whipped warmth of…what was this place?

They had fallen through a tear in the dimensional fabric into a world of flashing magenta skies and fathomless black abysses. And hordes of Meanies. And the massive, winding neck of Negativitron, its sinister rectangular nozzle face confused for once by all of the intruders in its realm.

For they were not the first to breach its realm this day; Negativitron had in fact been in hot pursuit of a Warpstar bearing Craft Kirby (the result of swallowing Sackboy, being made of sackcloth and wielding a giant sewing needle, which was undoubtedly responsible for the dimensional tear) and Luigi, who wore expressions of exhilaration and terror, respectively. They sped right past the newcomers, luring the monstrous vacuum directly into the path of the dragons.

As Malefor slowed in surprise and the deadly nozzle loomed near, its pointed teeth open to receive whatever fell into its path, Mario and Yoshi knew they had to act fast. They dropped beneath Malefor and attacked the claws holding their friends captive, Pikachu with a Thunderbolt, Mario with a thrust of Ratchet's OmniWrench. Malefor was just distracted enough by the dramatic shift in setting that they were able to pry his claws sufficiently open to extract Spyro and Cynder.

They just barely made it out before Negativitron swallowed Malefor whole, sucking him down its hose like an anaconda eating a rabbit (albeit an evil one). It would have sucked in the rest of them as well, except Malefor made for a mighty-sized morsel.

Meanwhile, the two other dragons were freefalling, their wings in tatters. Samus took the initiative to direct her gunship down and beam them up with her tractor beam into the safety of the hold.

Luigi and Craft Kirby pulled up beside Mario, Yoshi, Sora, and Pikachu on their Warpstar. Luigi glanced at Negativitron with a relieved look.

"I'm a-glad that's—"

But then, like Hercules inside the esophagus of the Hydra, the hose was ripped open, and Malefor burst out, severing Negativitron's neck with a bloodcurdling roar.

"Oh, come on!" DK and Sparx said simultaneously from within the gunship.

Sora peered closely at the approaching dragon's underbelly and smiled. He put a hand on Yoshi's head.

"Take me closer."

"Yoshi?" The dinosaur, questioning the boy's suggestion in his own language, nevertheless did as instructed, pushing forward toward Malefor's enraged figure, reminded uncomfortably of his memorable fight against the Dark Dragon Medeus in Akaneia. Malefor opened his maw, the stirring magic of Dark Aether swirling in his throat, ready to roast the heroes like overcooked marshmallows.

With a yell, Sora leapt off Yoshi's back (allowing Pikachu to take his place on the saddle) and soared through the air, surrounded by the light purple aura of Flowmotion, his Keyblade stretched forward with both hands.

The Smashers watched incredulously as Sora plunged straight through Malefor's Dark Aether barrier, which had been weakened by Negativitron, and into the dragon's chest—right where the keyhole shape had begun flashing.

"Malefor, you have failed this kingdom!"

Malefor's green orb-like eyes froze in shock. Sora pulled the Kingdom Key out of his hide and pushed off with his feet, backflipping down to where Yoshi was keen enough to catch him. Malefor, on the other hand, fell into the black abyss along with Negativitron's severed head, the mindless Meanies jumping in after their creator out of confusion. A flock of glowing white hearts that had once been Malefor's body rose up and away. And then, within minutes, Negativitron's dimension was quiet.

"Pika!" Pikachu cheered, which meant something along the lines of, "Nice job, Sora! We hit two Spearows with one stone!"

Sora nodded, but said nothing, far too out of breath and traumatized by his close encounter with the Dark Aether to speak.

Mario rubbed Yoshi's head affectionately and patted Sora on the shoulder, then embraced Luigi, laughing.

"You did it, bro."

Craft Kirby's black button eyes glinted buoyantly as he held up his giant sewing needle in true Prince Peasley fashion.

"Poyo!"


	19. Chapter 15: Androids and Aces (1)

" _Sometimes sweetness is mightier than the sword."_

 _ **~Princess Peach**_

* * *

Chapter 15: Androids and Aces

* * *

 **Dragon Temple**

 **Dragon Realm**

* * *

 ** _I_** gnitus and the other three Dragon Guardians were gathered with the Smashers around the Pool of Visions. The temple interior was just as immaculately restored as its exterior, the golden dragon statues and jewel-embedded walls and red-carpeted floor reminding Yoshi uncomfortably of the equally embellished throne room of Wizpig's Palace. Fortunately, however, there were no mad scientists or murderous robots or false pig gods here.

"Will Spyro and Cynder be okay, Master Ignitus?" Sparx asked, his glowing body flickering with worry.

The scarlet dragon sighed. "They will live…but the damage done to their wings by the Dark Aether was severe. I'm afraid they may never fly again."

That was a humbling thought for all present—another permanent piece of damage caused by Xehanort's usurpation.

"Their sacrifice will a-be remembered," Mario said. "But now, we a-need to find the Maverick."

Ignitus's wrinkled head nodded slowly. "Very well. Our Pool of Visions will tell you precisely where to find him. It's the least we can do after what you heroes have done for our kingdom—a debt that we can never fully repay."

"That's great," Red said, "because we've only got a few stones left to contact Pit with; and your pool's more precise than his."

With that, the old Guardian blew a concentrated jet of flames into the water, the pulsing heat felt by all in the room. Similar to Pit's Reflection Pool, the surface rippled from the middle—except in this case, it was also boiling like a witch's brew, and rather than becoming flat and revealing a two-dimensional map, it constructed an outline of Megaland upon which an immaterial model of a strange building appeared.

It was essentially a pile of giant bones assembled methodically around an enormous skull, but rather oddly accessorized with high-tech satellite dishes, metal rocket-shaped towers, and laser turrets.

"Wily Fortress," Snake said through Cypher. "The old headquarters of Dr. Wily—the inventor who first began corrupting bots like the Mavericks and using them as weapons instead of helpers. Megaman kicked his trash a long time ago; I didn't even know that dump was still standing."

"It appears you will find your Vassal here," Ignitus said. "But…go with caution. Both Eggman and Malefor seemed to answer to him as some kind of superior among Sony's Vassals. He is well known throughout all of Sony for his ruthlessness and technological cunning."

"Yeah," Sparx said, "but if you warm-bloods could take down Malefor, I'm sure he'll be no match for you." He was, of course, ignorant of the fact that Yoshi wasn't actually warm-blooded. "That said, you should all spend the night here before you go; we've got a couple visitors coming who want to see you off."

This time, Sora didn't protest their delayed departure at all. His shaken body needed it.

* * *

The temple was surprisingly well equipped with huge fluffy mattresses to accommodate its guests, although the "bedrooms" were more like gold auditorium-sized caverns with unusually symmetrical walls. The torch-lit halls were dim, for the natural light through the windows had long since departed. In fact, it was late enough that the Smashers slept well into the following morning.

They were welcomed with a handsome Dragon Realm feast the next day. There were far too many platters heaped with roast turkeys and about a dozen other kinds of meat for any of them to ever eat—Donkey Kong and Kirby included. There were also fine crystal goblets of indigenous fruit juices and milks, and piles of fresh grapes and apples and, to the Kong's utter delight, bananas.

As they ate, Luigi explained to the rest how Snake had sent him and Kirby to make contact with Sackboy in Craftworld. Kirby had absorbed Sackboy's abilities to become Craft Kirby, then used his sewing needle to rip a hole into Negativitron's dimension.

"Wait," Samus said, lowering the grape juice she'd been about to drink. "How did Kirby know to find us in Mount Malefor?"

Luigi shrugged. "He just a-knew."

Kirby had done stranger things before, so no one else questioned him after that. They didn't even stare as the puffball inhaled outrageous amounts of food, for the attending dragons of the temple were constantly hovering around, waiting to refill the empty platters.

"Most importantly," Snake continued through Cypher, "I believe Negativitron's dimension will be able to bypass the Maverick's Skull Dome, giving you direct access to his lair."

"Wonderful!" Mario said, swallowing a tender veal steak with relish, wiping his mouth with a napkin, and leaving it on his plate. He stood up. "I'm a-ready when you are, Smash a-Brothers."

Within the next five to forty-five minutes (most of those minutes devoted solely to Kirby's appetite), the rest of the Smashers finished eating and geared up to leave, Kirby still donning his sackcloth body and giant sewing needle to take them to their next destination.

Before that, however, they met outside the temple with the four Dragon Guardians, many other dragons and intelligent wildlife, and the two special guests who had just arrived from the Glade of Dreams through one of Gadd's portals.

"What's up, guys?" Rayman strolled up to DK and fist-bumped him heartily, his own armless limbs giving him the appearance of a half-invisible man. "Where are your other Kong friends? We had quite the exciting shindig on the _Normandy_ back in the day."

"It's just us for now," DK said, forcibly forgiving Rayman his ignorance. "What brings you and your, uh… _friend_ here?"

"Whoopee!" Globox, the hyperactive giant blue frog notorious for his nonsensical behavior, bounced around the tidy lawn in front of the temple entrance, doing handstands and picking his nose at the same time. He licked his finger and eyed Sparx hungrily, looking like he was about to snatch the firefly with his tongue.

Sparx backed far away from the frog. "Don't even think about it, buster."

Globox looked neither deterred nor disappointed as he faced the rest of the Smashers and dragons. Manic, maybe.

"Guys guys guys guys guys…howdy doo? I've got the goodliest of good news! Rayman's promised I can come with y'all on your magical adventure—"

"No I didn't, you goofin' Glute." Rayman rolled his eyes and addressed the Smashers. "Sorry about him; he insisted on coming along as part of his vacation I supposedly 'owe' him. But be grateful you never saw him under the Heartless."

DK didn't want to imagine what that kind of insanity might have been like, but in his mind he couldn't help but picture Lanky with an endless supply of caffeine in his system. Now that he thought about it, the two goofballs were quite alike.

"It's a-good to see you, Rayman," Mario said. "What a-news do you have for us?"

"Well, as far as news, nothing much," Rayman said. "The Glade and Craftworld are all back to normal; the Lums and Electoons aren't constantly trying to kill me anymore, anyways. Polokus, our local deity who protects the Dream Forest, is still dealing with a bit of a head-rattling bout of insanity, but he'll come to in time. And all those Meanies running amuck in Little Big City have turned back into normal Sack People. But that's not why I'm here."

He pulled out his signature weapon, the Plunger Gun—and offered it to DK.

"Where you're going, I can't follow. But consider this a piece of my kingdom you can take with ya to help you stop Xehanort. You might have that Coconut Gun of yours, but you'd be surprised how often some good old suction force on a stick can come in handy."

"Thanks," DK said, glad Globox's claimed self-offering had been a joke. To Rayman, at least. "I'll make good use of it."

Rayman nodded in satisfaction, his two curling golden hair tufts bobbing, and turned to Sora. "You must be Sora. I'm sure you've already begun to learn that it's a pretty crazy world here in the Smash Universe. But take it from someone who's been through his fair share of crazy: There's always a deeper method to the madness. Sounds like Xehanort's kind of an expert on exploiting that, from what I've heard about what happened to Disney. But once we strike upon what makes that order tick in This World, we'll be able to fix it for good."

"Thanks," Sora said. "We'll do our best."

"Quest!" Kirby called, beckoning the Smashers around him as he raised his sewing needle, paused for a moment to concentrate, and made a methodical, diagonal slash across the air, ripping a large hole in the dimensional fabric big enough for Samus's gunship, which was waiting nearby. The flashing purple of Negativitron's dimension glowed from within.

Mario looked appreciatively between Ignitus and Rayman. "Thanks for all your a-help. We'd a-never succeed without people like a-you to support us." Suddenly, he regretted that Spyro and Cynder were still too unwell to see them off. At least Spyro had managed to give them a few bottles of his Heart-Softening Light Aether, so in a way he would be going with them also. "We're a-going to make things right. Take a-care."

"Bye!" Craft Kirby hopped over and up the ramp into Samus's gunship, followed by Zelda (who still bore the purple Chaos Emerald just in case); Samus; Cypher; Red; Yoshi; DK; Mario; Luigi; and Sora.

The rift sealed behind them, leaving the Smashers in the ominous Negativitron dimension—although they all felt much safer knowing that its former occupant was no more.

"So, Kirby," Samus said as she steered the craft over the black abyss below, the shifting world around them seizure-worthy. "Where to?"

"There!" Kirby pressed his pudgy face against the windshield and pointed. Samus tried to ignore the smudges Kirby would undoubtedly leave behind on the glass, and followed his directions.

It was actually quite a long flight—even without any Heartless dragons or Meanies or other monsters hampering their journey. Clearly, distance did not work the same here as it did in the outside world, for Luigi and Kirby had made it to the Mountain of Malefor with miraculous timing; but still it required several hours of autopiloted flight before Kirby shook himself awake from his nap, jumped up, and waved to Samus, pointing at the sky in front of them.

"Skull!"

Samus accordingly brought the gunship to a halt in the air, and as planned, lowered the ramp to allow Kirby outside so he could do his thing with the needle. The puffball seemed to be feeling out the dimensional fabric for a while. Then, finally, he stuck the pointed object into the air, grabbed it with both hand stubs, and rode it down as it ripped a vertical hole in Negativitron's dimension, revealing a narrow strip of neon green light beyond.

Kirby puffed back inside the gunship, and once the hatch was closed, Samus gripped her throttles and began pushing forward.

"Time to bash some bots."

The ship accelerated and pushed them out of the purple dimension and into Megaland. As the tear sealed behind them, they looked out in awe at the brilliant cityscape before them. From their position at the city outskirts, Central City's clustered skyscrapers, futuristic air traffic, and glowing neon blues and greens made for a postcard-worthy sight. Augmenting this unique spectacle was the bright green network of circuitry lines running across the indigo sky—a digital aurora borealis of sorts.

"This place doesn't look half bad," Samus said. Neither she nor anyone present except Cypher/Snake had ever visited Megaland, and most of them were quite impressed.

"Strange how the Heartless affect these regions' landscapes so differently," Red said. "Mobius was in ruins, while the Dragon Temple and this techno-culture seem just as good if not better than they were before."

"Only on the outside," Snake's voice said. "Remember…the Heartless corrupt people within; how that darkness manifests itself in each of us varies from person to person, from world to world. If my experience in Megaland is any indication, I fear the elements of humanity in the androids who live here will have been buried beneath their, um, _other_ instincts."  
"Also," DK said, looking out the side of the windshield in the opposite direction, "I hate to spoil all your coconut trees, but we're not going into the city." He pointed, and Samus pivoted her gunship's orientation to behold what he was referring to. And sure enough, past a dismal plain of hard iron-gray earth was a structure featuring the unmistakable image of a skull. Wily Fortress.

"Dang." Red, for one, was disappointed. He hadn't been in a real city since leaving Kanto with Link, Yoshi, and DK.

Samus thrust the throttle forward and began piloting them toward the glorified technological bone pile. "There'll be plenty of time for sightseeing when Xehanort's six feet under."

Fortunately, no robo-cops or anything of the kind disrupted their journey; Kirby had directed them to the perfect entry point from which neither the city nor the fortress would be likely to notice them. The Star Warrior had done it again.

"Does this vessel not have some kind of invisibility shield?" Zelda asked, concerned as the steel towers and mounted laser turrets drew closer.

Samus shook her head. "Unfortunately not." She turned to Cypher. "Would the robots around here benefit from a Time Flute or two?"

"Not most of them," Snake said. "Not if the Mavericks have taken over. If his reputation does him any justice, the Maverick's followers will be loyal to him with or without the Heartless. But the good news is, if all Megalandians have been influenced by the Heartless, then our mutual friend Megaman will likely be among them. Try to find the back entrance; then we might find him from there."

The gunship gave Wily Fortress a wide berth as it wound around to the back, which lost much of its bone-themed appearance in favor of industrial metal walls. Samus landed as discreetly as she could in a completely flat, coverless landscape and opened the exit ramp.

"Not so fast, Kong," she said as DK made to follow the rest of the Smashers out. "I need you to stay here and watch the ship; we're not going to let any hacker bots take off with her if I can help it."

"But…" DK tried to think of a counterargument, but couldn't. So he just nodded and wandered back to his seat, grumbling, as the rest of them filed out. Yoshi, the last to leave, gave him a pitying look.

"We'll be back soon."

DK just nodded and said nothing, not trusting himself to open his mouth.

They cautiously approached the towering back wall, which had a couple garage door outlines and a single human-sized door in between.

"I don't like a-this," Luigi said with a shiver. "Why haven't we been a-lasered yet?"

Samus had her arm cannon trained on one turret and then the other. But no signs of activity. It was as if the fortress had been shut down like a defunct factory.

"Not sure," she said. "But everyone keep on your guard. Hostile androids tend to be lacking in the mercy department."

"That's a nice thought," Yoshi said, as creeped out as Luigi. Soon they reached the door.

"Allow me," Red said before anyone could ask how they would get inside. The door had a remarkably ordinary knob and keyhole; apparently Dr. Wily had been inventing before automatic or keypad doors were a thing. It said something about the rich history that undoubtedly filled Megaland's past, just like every other region. So many lives and experiences and struggles—everything brought to its knees by the Heartless. It was as if the greatest virtues of the lands themselves had been robbed, replaced with pure vice.

Without explanation, Red pulled out the Cooper Cane and slid the golden hook into the lock, twisted it a couple times until it clicked, and pulled the door open.

"How did…?" Sora stared at Red. Even his Keyblade couldn't do stuff like that.

Red was staring at the cane himself in mild disbelief. "I have no idea."

Samus led them into the dark garage. There were only what appeared to be flickering emergency lights glowing inadequately from the ceiling. Samus's suit provided its own bright flashlight, while Mario, Luigi, and Zelda formed small flames in their hands to light their way.

The further they went, the more the fortress resembled a factory—machine pieces littered and stacked along tables and conveyer belts. Many of them eerily resembled body parts, designed to mimic Megaman's generic model of head, arms, legs, and torso. Luigi was just glad none of the heads' eyes were open; he would probably have nightmares about this place for weeks as it was. At least with Negativitron he could clearly see what he was dealing with.

All was silent save for the humming of the lights and the sounds of their own footsteps on the metal floor. An overpowering smell of rust exuded from the room, adding a coppery taste to the air.

"Samus—shine your light on a-this."

The bounty hunter pointed her beam at the wall as they all gathered to see what Mario had found. There was a lineup of android suits, most of which resembled Megaman, but with slightly different designs and sizes for each one. The first one was actually red with a black visor over the eyes, the second one being the model the Nintendonians knew as Megaman.

"Proto Man," Cypher said, hovering in front of the red suit. "Megaman's first predecessor. He was one of Wizpig's victims in the Battle for Microsoft. But what are his and all these other models doing here?"

No one had an answer, so after another minute or two, they moved on until they reached another door. It was locked, but Red made quick work of it with the Cooper Cane, granting them entry into a staircase that rose an untold number of flights above them.

Yoshi sighed. "Stairs."

It took them at least ten minutes to wind their way back and forth up more floors than seemed reasonable. Some of the levels led out into open-aired wings that seemed like the kinds of places Megaman would have had to clear of robotic enemies before continuing his ascent. But fortunately for the Smashers, these branches in the "marrow" of the giant skull appeared as abandoned as the rest of the place, the dark green sheet metal reminiscent of the base on Shadow Moses Island.

At length, they reached the top of the stairs and took a moment to catch their breath.

"Why," Luigi panted, "do the bad a-guys…always have…towers?"

They faced one final iron door. This one actually had a digital keypad rather than a conventional lock.

"Huh," Samus said. She inspected the keypad closely, tried a couple failed combinations, then turned to Cypher. "Can you hack it?"

"Unfortunately, Cypher isn't that kind of machine. But perhaps if you could overload it with electricity…"

"Say no more," Red said, calling out Pikachu. The Electric Mouse Pokémon treated the door to a healthy ten thousand volts of electricity, and sure enough, the lock's computer blew a fuse, emitting a small sulky plume of smoke from the keypad.

"Nicely done." Samus pulled the door open and allowed them all inside.

It was a square chamber whose walls, floor, and ceiling were all composed of dark green tiles, linked together like glassy solar panels. Beneath the "glass" was an extremely intricate array of circuitry, similar to the glowing sky outside, but the components more closely matched the various pathways and transistors and resistors of an actual computer motherboard or graphics card or other such pieces of technology. It reminded Mario, Red, and Zelda uncomfortably of their nightmarish experience inside the L.O.G. Box.

The room was far from empty. At least a dozen dark silhouettes lined the perimeter like shadowy sentinels, robotic eyes glowing through the darkness.

 _Mavericks,_ Snake thought as he took in the room through Cypher's camera.

One figure towered above the rest at the center of the room, and he was no silhouette at all, but a large man whose body was even more luminous than the room's surfaces. His scarred eye sockets; pupilless eyes; broad red cape and purple cowl and steel shoulder armor; it seemed to speak of a man who was not really a man. A man so bathed in cruelty that it was all he knew.

"I wondered when you would come," Commander Sigma's electric bass voice echoed. He gestured outward with his hands. "Welcome to Wily Fortress, Smash Brothers."

Samus had her arm cannon trained on Sigma, while the other Smashers were in fighting poses ready for any of the silhouettes, though they all remained motionless. Robotic.

"Eggman and Malefor say hi," Samus said.

Sigma's laugh was like a harsh riff in a hard rock song. "Yes, very impressive; Eggman was a fool and Malefor was proud, but they had their uses. I'm sure Xehanort is rather irked by your persistence—which will only be equaled by his pleasure when I deliver you to him."

"Not a-gonna happen," Mario said.

Sigma smirked. "Do you know why the Megamen have had as much success as they have, taking down Dr. Albert Wily…the Mavericks… _me,_ even? It's because they _evolved_ —because they were programmed with increasingly sophisticated tactical processing which thwarted whatever Megaland threw their way. Strategy is supreme to brute strength; it's why Master Xehanort took Nintendo by storm. And it's also why you've failed in your quest to stop me now. This World has changed, Nintendonians…and it's about time you got with the program."

Samus had had enough of Sigma's ranting, so she did what she always did when someone annoyed her enough: She fired a missile at him.

But the missile ran straight through Sigma's body, and it was then, as the Maverick's figure flickered and then disappeared, that realization dawned upon Samus. Sigma wasn't really here; he was just a hologram. And they had just walked straight into his trap.

Suddenly, the stagnant silhouettes booted up, and their figures glowed with backlit armor, their colorful variety of technological weapons firing up to life. The "short-circuited" door behind the Smashers slid shut definitively, like the lid on a tomb.

There was Gravity Beetle and Boom Kuwanger with their insectoid armor; Vile, who looked somewhat like a purple Mandalorian with a shoulder cannon and a bandolier feeding into it over his back; Cyber Peacock, who was pretty much a humanoid robotic peacock with sharpened yellow talons and jade metal "feathers"; and Chill Penguin, a violet-armored penguin with a red rocket on its back. All were Mavericks—chaos-causing androids whose hearts Snake had said were probably not worth purging.

But the thing was, not all of the robots were Mavericks. There was also Cut Man, with his snapping scissor head; Spark Man, with his metal prongs that generated electric spheres; and Hard Man, with his detachable rocket fists. All were Robot Masters who had served honorably with Megaman and Bass during the Battle for Microsoft.

Speaking of which, Bass was there as well, and finally Megaman himself. But were any of these Robot Masters the androids the Smashers had known and cared for, or were they all just lifeless copies like those they had seen downstairs?

"Now I leave you with a choice, Smash Brothers," Sigma's voice strummed. "Try and defeat them all—destroying your old friends in the process and most likely falling to my Mavericks and Heartless androids anyway—or accept checkmate, and face Xehanort's reckoning willingly. And don't bother with any of those Heart Softeners," he added smugly. "I've coated your onetime allies with waterproof and fireproof alloys, and disabled their audio functions. So let us see…if the heroes of Nintendo can fight their way through this one!"

The ten heroes (Jigglypuff had come out as well) faced the onslaught of weapons pointed at them, taken aback by Sigma's unexpected ultimatum. Yet the robots had not fired yet, as if waiting for the Smashers to make their decision.

"Do you think we can take 'em?" Sora asked.

"Even if we did," Yoshi said, "we'd have to put down some of the good guys. I don't think I could do that…I hate to say it, but I don't see any way out of this."

They looked to Mario for an answer. The plumber furrowed his brow; he was willing to fight the Mavericks, but certainly not Megaman or Bass if there was any chance they were their real selves. It could all be a trick—a bunch of cheap replicas to dupe them into surrendering—but how could he possibly know?

"I…" He found himself unable to answer.

"My camera can't perform an infrared scan on any of them," Snake said in frustration. "It's impossible to tell if they're real."

Craft Kirby attempted to slice through the dimensional fabric with his needle, but even his efforts were to no avail. He shook his head sadly.

"Can't!"

So they couldn't escape, and they couldn't fight without compromising their Megalandian friends. What could they do?

Suddenly Zelda remembered she still had the Chaos Emerald. She tightened her fingers around it and closed her eyes. There was some kind of buzzing barrier keeping her from teleporting out of the room—similar to the one created by the Skull Dome which had prevented them from teleporting inside Megaland. But she could try what she as Tetra had seen Shadow the Hedgehog do once before.

"Chaos…control!"

All the blinking lights and charging blasters of the Mavericks and Robot Masters froze in place, as if time had stopped—which it sort of had. But Zelda had managed to stop it in such a way that the other Smashers were still animate.

"Now we have time," she said.

Mario nodded and drew the OmniWrench. "First things a-first."

He pounced forward and began driving his magnetized weapon into the frozen Mavericks, thrusting it through the metal shells of Gravity Beetle and Boom Kuwanger; slicing off Vile's shoulder cannon and then spearing him; using the magnet function to cause all of Cyber Peacock's steel feathers to curl in and impale themselves on the robotic bird's body; and driving the OmniWrench down through the diminutive Chill Penguin's circuitry, pulling out its cybernetic guts on the way out.

"That's a start," Samus said. But what about the rest?"

Unfortunately, that was when the Chaos Emerald's effects wore off, and a wave of android attacks came at them: lasers and charge shots; electric spheres and rocket fists.

Luigi yelped and Sora cried out in pain as they were knocked out by attacks before Pikachu could put up a Light Screen. Cutman, Hardman, Bass, and Megaman, however, proceeded through the barrier in favor of melee combat, their expressions so devoid of human emotion that it was as if they'd had no hearts to be made Heartless in the first place. Samus, Zelda, Mario, and Kirby began sparring with these in close combat.

"This doesn't look good," Red said. "If only there was a way we could break out of this place."

As if in answer, a loud sucking sound from outside the door coincided with the said iron slab being pulled clean out of the doorway, slamming onto the floor with a cringe-worthy bang as it revealed the figure of Donkey Kong, Plunger Gun in hand.

Pikachu's Thunder Wave managed to disable the remaining robots for a few seconds, giving Samus time to stare at the Kong—who shifted uncomfortably, but grinned back at her.

"What?" he said, reloading the stringed plunger back into the gun. "I got bored. Now get your sorry selves out of this dump."

* * *

One close escape later, Samus's gunship was on its way out of Wily Fortress, heading in an indeterminate direction—anywhere to get far away from the rampaging robots.

While Zelda worked on healing Luigi and Sora with her magic and Samus steered the craft, Mario consulted with Cypher.

"Sigma must have fled Megaland just before you arrived," Snake said, stroking his chin from his side of the camera on Shadow Moses Island. "A shrewd move…and one that almost cost us the universe as we know it."

"Puff," Jigglypuff corrected, meaning, "Or once knew it."

"So where is he a-now?" Mario said. It was unlikely they would find any bodies of water to contact Pit in a region like Megaland.

"The Maverick oversees Megaland," Snake said. "But his stewardship must also extend to Strangereal and the Wasteland. So my guess would be he's in one of those two places."

"Right," DK said, glancing around. "So has anyone else had any helpful visions of the dead lately telling us where to go next?"

"What?" Samus almost let go of the controls.

"Oured," Kirby said matter-of-factly.

DK dug his finger into his ear, not sure he had heard correctly. "What was that, gumball?"

"Oured!"

"Oured is the capital of Osea," Snake explained. "Strangereal is divided into two provinces: Usea and Osea. The two nations have quite a violent history with each other, from the Belkan Wars all the way to—"

"The history lesson can wait," Samus said. "Wherever Kirby's saying we should go, let's just do it. He seems to be getting a lot of convenient information from the universe lately."

"Uh…" Yoshi gulped as he watched out the side window. "Wherever we're going, let's do it quickly. I think our friends aren't quite ready to give up the chase."

Sure enough, a cluster of flying androids was already on its way out of Wily Fortress toward them—Megaman and Bass at the forefront, ready to fire as soon as the gunship was within range.

"Let's a-go," Mario agreed, still shaken by his failure to act in the heat of the moment and by his brother's injury, but determined to do his part nonetheless.

Samus nodded and began accelerating faster. The Robot Masters might be relatively quick, but they were no match for a full-fledged spacecraft.

"I never thought I'd say this, but Kirby…go stab your needle at the sky and rip us a hole into the evil vacuum dimension."

Kirby did that (once Samus had slowed down), and the gunship passed through the rift once more.

* * *

Thankfully, their next trip through Negativitron's dimension took only about fifteen minutes. Before they knew it, Kirby was calling them to a halt again and sliced their way out into a much different landscape.

Usea was largely a world of wintery tundra comparable to Russian Siberia. Seemingly endless stretches of icy wilderness led into every horizon, with no clear way out.

"Um…Kirby?" Snake said as they passed slowly over frozen rivers and lakes and sparse, frosted pine trees. "This is Usea—not Osea, where the capital city Oured is located. Why did you take us out of Negativitron's dimension this early?"

Kirby smiled mysteriously. "Reasons."

There wasn't much to say to that.

"I'm just going to head east for now," Samus said. And since the inexplicably wise puff child didn't object, that's what they did.

They had an hour or so of quiet flight to relax from their ordeal in Megaland, appreciating the white beauty of the natural architecture below, a couple of them listening vaguely as Snake rambled on about Strangerealean history—its military conflicts and political intrigues, the kind of stuff a FOXHOUND soldier would find fascinating.

"So that's why they were so slow to help us in the Second Copyright Wars," Samus said after Snake had described Strangereal's experiences under Master Chief's forced alliance. "Microsoft sacrificed some of their best pilots to the Vigoorian monster Obaba. That makes much more sense now."

DK shuddered. "That's the beast who ended up sucking Conker's bones dry. I sure hope _she_ isn't one of Xehanort's Vassals; I think I'd rather face Wizpig all over again."

"Look!" Zelda said abruptly.

Not too far ahead of them, the tundra transitioned from soft snowy slopes to a much greener, thickly forested landscape. And just past that transitionary zone was what appeared to be a small settlement, with electric lights, modern roofs, and streets and cars visible even from their position.

"We're crossing into Osea," Snake said.

"That's a-good, right?" Luigi said hopefully.

It would have been—were it not for the tight formation of black fighter jets and bombers speeding from the northwest, at an angle just sharp enough that Samus's gunship hadn't been visible until now.

"Great," DK said. "Now we have to dogfight these Usean thugs."

"Worse." Sora pointed at the formation's steep descent toward the town. The jets hadn't even spared the gunship a second glance, for their mission had become clear.

"They're a-gonna bomb the city," Mario said incredulously.

"Not if I can help it." Samus caused the gunship to boost toward the approaching hostiles.

"Wait, Samus!" Snake's voice warned. "The skirmishes between these nations are their own business, probably made even worse by the Heartless. Getting involved will put you all in grave danger."

Deep down, Samus knew he was right. But then images flashed through his mind: the citizens of her home planet, K-2L, slaughtered mercilessly by Ridley and the Space Pirates; Wizpig's spaceships, murdering Nintendonians, Sonians, and Microsians indiscriminately, including the Spartan Frigate where Captain Falcon died; and Dr. Eggman's Death Egg, decimating Mobius in a near-total genocide…

"I don't care."

The rest strapped into their seats and held on as she flew them straight toward the Usean fighters, and before the bombers could rain Hell upon the Osean civilians, she fired a single laser at the leader, shooting it out of the air.

As expected, the rest of the fighters didn't take kindly to that gesture. They all curved away from the town and toward the gunship, unleashing a barrage of machine gun fire and smoking missiles.

Samus activated her ship's shield just in time, haphazardly deflecting the explosive projectiles. She fired another warning shot just over one of the fighter's cockpits, taking a confident stand with her superior technology.

It worked. The rest of the Usean forces swerved out of Samus's path and retreated back to the northwest, speeding home as if they'd just been attacked by an alien superweapon. Which, of course, wasn't entirely inaccurate.

Red readjusted his disheveled hat and smiled, impressed. "Nice one."

"I wouldn't celebrate just yet." DK pointed out the right side, from which another formation of jets approached—these ones bluish gray, the leader's plane a lighter gray with dark wings. They didn't appear to be as aggressive. Still, Samus kept her shield up and prepared for another fight.

Suddenly, a transmission came through Samus's communication system—a staticky, vaguely familiar male voice.

"Stand down, cadet; we just watched you protect our people, and we mean no harm. Do you copy?"

From his side of Cypher's camera, Snake raised an eyebrow, and quickly responded before any of the Smashers could.

"Copy that, sir. Requesting permission to accompany your squadron back to Oured for respite and refueling."

"Affirmative, cadet; it's the least we can do for a friend. My wingmen and I will guide you to Oured's air force base. But first, would you do us the favor of identifying yourself?"

Snake said nothing, hoping Cipher—the Strangerealean ace pilot and Sonian All-Star—had left his communication channel open to his fellow pilots, and that the Smashers would pick up on the opportunity they had been given.

Red picked up on it. Rather than responding with "We're the Smashers" and being immediately reported to the Maverick and Xehanort, he simply pulled out a Time Flute and began playing, counting on its effects to work over radio frequencies.

Samus and the Strangerealean jets had redirected themselves toward the east and begun making their way toward Oured when Red did his thing. There was a considerable period of silence after the flute's final chime before the Osean leader spoke again.

"…Smashers? You've come all this way from Nintendo? But how?"

"Set your course on autopilot, ace," Samus said, "and we'll tell you."


	20. Chapter 15: Androids and Aces (2)

While a few of the Smashers took turns filling in the Strangerealeans on the ongoing struggle against the Heartless, DK creased his forehead, feeling more than a little confused.

"Wait…Cipher? So you mean to tell me that Cipher's the name of a Strangerealean pilot, Snake's flying camera, _and_ Wes's Pokémon crime syndicate? _That's_ not confusing at all."

"Technically, my Cypher's spelled with a _y_ instead of an _i,_ " Snake said, "but yes. It's a bit of an unfortunate coincidence."

Their trip to Oured was uneventful, but the scenery was beautiful. The forests sloped up into tall mountains and down into river-bottomed valleys. The sky was cloudless, the weather pleasant, the flocks of geese narrowly avoiding incineration in the aircrafts' jet engines. In other words, for once things felt… _normal_.

A few hours later, with the sun already threatening to touch the horizon, Oured came into view. It was just as modern as the border town, but on a much grander scale—a huge metropolis comparable to Denver or Chicago. Skyscrapers clustered around the downtown districts like the highest bars on a three-dimensional bar graph, and suburban and industrial districts fanned out from there.

Of course, they didn't make directly for the skyscrapers; the military base was located some thirty miles out of town, a complex of gray structures with a canopy of satellite dishes and anti-aircraft turrets, wrapped in a shell of fences and walls. Most of the property consisted of runways and hangars for Osea's multitudinous air force. It looked like the kind of place that was never still, always in motion reacting to or anticipating the next attack from its belligerent neighbors. The Strangerealean equivalent of the Pentagon.

"Once we've landed, cadets, I'll show you to your quarters," Cipher said (the pilot, not the machine). "Then I suspect the Board will want to meet you personally, and hopefully you'll be able to… _influence_ them as you have us."

"Roger that," Samus said, understanding the meaning behind Cipher's words. If they could purge Oured's leaders, they would be in a good position to locate and take down Commander Sigma, wherever he might be hiding.

Following her wingman guides and the glowing red batons being waved from the ground, Samus carefully lowered her gunship into one of the large hangars. The spacecraft contrasted sharply against the military jets, which ranged from F-15C Eagles like Cipher's to F-22A Raptors, F-14D Super Tomcats, and every other variation of sharp-nosed jet of varying thickness, wingspan, tailfin decal, and missile size and type. It was this kind of arsenal which had helped Sony's forces tip the scales on the eastern front of the Battle for Microsoft.

Most of the human pilots and technicians and mechanics paused to stare at Samus's gunship, in awe of its sleek orange sophistication. One could distinguish between their various roles based on their dirty jumpsuits or their decorated uniforms or their lab coats or their business jackets and slacks.

The Smashers dismounted the gunship's exit ramp and watched Cipher's tall, lanky figure climb out of his Eagle and come toward them, his pilot's helmet under his arm. He appeared to be in his early 30's, a dark-haired man with an air of dauntless majesty to him and a welcoming smile. He nodded at his wingmen who had begun gathering around the newcomers.

"I'll take them from here. Speak nothing of what they've told us; if all goes well, our homeland will be free of the Heartless before you know it."

The other pilots nodded to him, clearly having great respect for him in spite of his pilot suit's lack of any opulent or illustrious ranking.

Ten minutes later, after walking through what felt like a mix between an army base and an airport, Cipher showed them into small but comfortable staterooms, where they paired off—Samus and Zelda; Mario and Luigi (and Cypher, though it needed no bed space); Kirby and Yoshi; Red and Sora; and DK with a room all to himself (appropriately so). The pilot gave each room a small radio and told them to contact him directly if they needed anything.

Less than an hour passed before Cipher came back and said the Board was ready to meet them. The Smashers were an unorthodox bunch and attracted strange looks from human passersby, but fortunately Cipher's presence prevented anyone from questioning theirs.

"Your timing couldn't have been better, cadets," he said as they made their way toward the administrative wing, which was a complex of gray hallways that would have been depressingly vacant had it not been for the plethora of plaques and glass-framed medals and photos depicting the accomplishments and distinctions of various military officers. If Wario had been here, he would have already been breaking into the frames and stuffing as many gold and silver and bronze medallions down his pants as he could fit. Of course, shortly thereafter he would have been detained, incarcerated, and prosecuted.

"Why's that?" Sora asked.

Cipher looked rather troubled even in his gladness to see them. "Strangereal is different from other worlds. The Heartless…they don't manifest themselves the same here. On the surface, everyone acts civil—friendly, even. If you didn't spend much time here, you would think they haven't been affected at all. But there are two big problems.

"First, there's no regional boundary between Osea and Usea, so we've been on the brink of war almost every day the past three years."

"But you haven't actually declared war yet?" Snake said. "How can that be?"

Cipher grinned ruefully. "That's the other problem. In both our nations, the Heartless have caused people to _aspire_ —to do anything to rise through the ranks of leadership. Often that means extravagant displays of positive behavior, albeit with questionable motivation…but sometimes, it means doing whatever it takes, within or without the law, to take your competitors down."

"Internal a-strife," Mario said, thinking of eons of clashes with Bowser. "I know what you a-mean."

At last, they reached a great wooden door which would lead into the boardroom where Osea's leaders awaited. Cipher paused before opening it.

"My point being, cadets," he said, "is be vigilant. I can almost guarantee that at least two or three of the men in that room would love nothing more than to stage a coup and replace the government of Osea."

Red fingered one of the Time Flutes in his bag and smiled. "I think we've got a way to make sure that doesn't happen."

Cipher nodded, then opened the door.

It was a boardroom with a long oval table of polished mahogany, several flags mounted on the walls, and various maps and diagrams of Strangereal. The room was entirely filled by men, mostly white, with a black or Hispanic-looking one here and there.

 _They haven't made much progress in the way of social equality, have they?_ Snake thought from the other side of Cypher's camera. _It feels like I've jumped back half a century…_

The hard-faced men, with ages ranging from late twenties to sixties, swiveled in their padded chairs to inspect the newcomers, their expressions ranging from suspicious to curious to completely unreadable. Most of them were in military uniforms, their shoulders and chests decorated with colorful patches like arrangements of Tetris blocks, and with golden tassels and shiny metal pins to boot.

Space had been made for the ten newcomers (Cipher included), but before they could advance, two suit-wearing ushers brought them to a halt.

"Leave your bags here," one said, not as mean-looking as the Bodybuilder guard in the Orre Region, but still stern enough to summon compliance.

Red reluctantly pulled his bag off and set it against the wall as the others did the same with their various weapons and bags. He could try to pull a fast one on them and grab a Time Flute now, but he suspected the military veterans here wouldn't take kindly to sudden movements. No Time Flutes; no Dream Water; no Aether fire.

Once they were relieved of their personal effects (Cypher was required to be shut off and stowed away with the rest of the stuff), they were shown to chairs of their own on one end of the room. Cipher took a seat beside Mario and winked encouragingly as the oldest man in the room spoke.

"Welcome to Oured, comrades. We extend our deepest gratitude for what you've done to protect our border town from Usea's air strike. I hope you find your accommodations suitable?"

Mario cleared his throat, a bit nervous. He made respectful eye contact with the white-haired man's blue-gray eyes, which were deeply embedded in his wrinkled face like chocolate chips in an oatmeal cookie, his sharp black suit and red tie communicating authority. "Yes. Thank a-you."

"I'm Vincent Harling—president of the Osean Republic. You've already met Cipher…"

President Harling went on to introduce each of the men of the Board, none of whose names or faces stood out to the Smashers—except one. As soon as the president had finished making introductions, a crew-cut man about Cipher's age with an unsatisfied, probing look leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at the Nintendonians. He had been introduced as Captain Jack Bartlett.

"How are strangers like you in Strangereal at all? I don't recognize any of you from Megaland or the Wasteland. Where do you come from? What is your real purpose here?"

Cipher jumped in quickly for them. "They are an entourage of special ambassadors from Nintendo," he said, so convincingly that Mario almost believed it himself. "Master Xehanort has sent them here as Junior Vassals In Training to seek out potential candidates in Sony for the same distinction. They were on their way here when they intercepted the Usean assault, and thanks to them, the sparks of war were again stymied."

"Really?" An ambitious shadow passed across Captain Bartlett's expression. "Well, in that case, we've got prime candidates for your talent scouting—some of the best pilots in all of Strangereal. Perhaps you'd care to sit in on a training exercise tomorrow to help speed the process along." Sora noticed as Bartlett's eyes flickered over to Cipher for the briefest of moments—but a moment that betrayed a heart filled with envy and resentment. It was clear to Sora, at least, what Bartlett wanted to prove to Xehanort.  
"Um…" Mario was taken aback by the sudden web of precarious lies Cipher had inadvertently stringed them into. "I don't a-think that will be a-necessary, but thanks."

Bartlett nodded with polite composure, though his boiling enmity bubbled close beneath the surface, his red face acting as a sort of lid to his underlying emotional steam.

"In any case," President Harling said, "we would be honored to help you in any capacity Xehanort requires. All our assets are at your fingertips, and whenever you should depart, give our humblest regards to your Master."

From that point, the Board resumed what appeared to be a heated squabble over how to react to Usea's attempted attack. Major Allen Hamilton tended to air on the side of caution and pacifism, while Captain Bartlett advocated passionately for retaliation. The more-or-less-ignored Smashers found it odd—how both men were taking diametrically opposite positions, and yet both had the same goal: to aspire to greater leadership. Cipher contributed very little to the discussion, his purged heart clearly liberated from his fellow Oseans' unhealthy ambitions.

At length, the meeting came to an officially unanimous but internally bitter conclusion to postpone retaliation, and the men filed out of the room along with the Smashers, whose possessions were returned to them on their way out.

"That was…something," Samus said as Cipher walked them back to their staterooms.

Cipher chuckled. "Yes. Sorry you didn't get the chance to purge them, cadets; I forgot how strict they tend to be on confiscating foreigners' belongings. Tomorrow, perhaps. You actually might be able to profit from the training exercise, should you choose to attend it; many officers will be there as well."

"That's a-good to know," Mario said as he and the others reached their rooms, which were in a cluster together on either side of the navy-blue hallway. "Maybe we will."

They said their good-nights to Cipher and each other and retired to their beds. Samus reactivated Snake's machine in her room and filled him in on what had happened during the board meeting.

"Hm…" Back on Shadow Moses Island, Snake stroked his chin. "I'd be careful of that Bartlett character; he seems like just the kind of aspiring scum Cipher said would do anything to be promoted."

"Yeah," Samus said. "Now we just need a better chance to purge some of these testosterone-driven toddlers so we can find the Maverick."

In spite of all these troubling thoughts, however, within another half hour, all the heroes were asleep.

* * *

Jigglypuff awoke to a strange sound. She looked in confusion at the metal door of the room she shared with Pikachu, Red, and Sora. Being a light sleeper, the unusual scratching of a lock being picked was enough to rip her from her pleasant dreams fantasizing of a future with Kirby. Stage concerts…strawberry shortcake…romantic walks through the Green Greens…

But that had been replaced with the slowly opening door and the intruding shadow of a man slipping into the room.

 _Bartlett,_ she thought. _He must be here to kill us for not accepting him into that made-up Junior Vassal garbage!_

She remained still, peeking from the bottom of her mostly-closed eyelids, trying to breathe steadily—until she saw the man's arm lift with the shape of a gun in his hand, pointed at Sora.

"Puff!" She launched herself at the man with a sudden Headbutt—only to be swiped away by his free hand, which inadvertently switched on the lights in the process, rousing Red, Pikachu, and Sora, and shedding light on the assassin's face.

It was Cipher—grinning wickedly, with something dark and unnatural behind his eyes.

"Cipher?" Sora said with scarce coherence, helpless before the pistol's pointed barrel. "Whaddryou doing?"

His response came in a most unexpected form—that form being a bullet which pierced his own chest from behind. But rather than crumple to the floor in agony, his body dissolved into a purple mist, which was conveniently sucked into the air vent above before it could have an opportunity to recorrupt someone.

Behind the responsible gun at the doorway was… _Cipher._ Only, his face was scruffy, and scabbed in a few places. And beside him (both of them in pajamas) was Captain Bartlett, looking at the vent with grim satisfaction.

"Looks like we got here just in time," Bartlett said gruffly.

"Um…what?" Red said. He and Sora were now fully alert, sitting on their beds, still having trouble digesting what had just happened.

"That version of me was a Heartless," Cipher explained. "Just before you got here, the Maverick had me locked away and replaced me with that absurd doppelganger. Bartlett here noticed something was off with me in that board meeting, so he followed his suspicions—probably hoping to catch me up to no good so he could have a better chance of winning a place in your 'Junior Vassals'—and found me."

"So…" Sora blinked in disbelief. "Everything you said to us…wasn't really you?"

"That's the tricky thing," Cipher said, "because in a way…it probably _was_ me. I'd have likely said many of the same things to you had I been there…barring anything that led to this lethal betrayal, of course."

"And you…" Red looked at Bartlett. "Are you still…?"

Cipher laughed softly and pulled out a small broken bottle of Dream Water. "Sorry, cadet; good old Jack here just couldn't resist swiping one of your exotic trinkets on the way out of the board meeting; I had a bit of a struggle with him when he found me, but managed to spill this on him before it went too far."

"On accident," Bartlett added.

"Pikaaaaaa…"

Red nodded; Pikachu was right. This would probably ruin more than just one night's sleep for him too.

* * *

The small convoy of two planes passed over the southeastern outskirts of Oured, finally leaving the city behind.

One of them, a military transport C-130 Hercules piloted by Captain Bartlett, bore all of the Smashers within its spacious hull, though the low drone of propellers still vibrated loudly inside the plane. Samus's gunship really had needed to refuel, and there hadn't been time to find the right kind before taking off.

The other was Cipher's trademark F-15C Eagle, a sleek marvel of aerodynamics made to look as limber as an actual bird under its pilot's unequaled skills.

"I've been told that in an alternate reality erased by the Memory Paradoxes, one of my old wingmen, Pixy, betrays me," Cipher said through his communicator. "He and CJ were both executed by Master Chief during the First Copyright Wars. But I never would've guessed I'd be betrayed by _myself._ "

Samus wasn't entirely sure whether to take that as a joke, because it was mostly true. "You and me both, Ace," she said across the radio waves. "But I guess we all have to face our dark sides sooner or later." Initially, she had been referring to her own Heartless self that had given in completely to her less savory qualities the past three years. But a strange shudder ran through her as an image of an electric blue Power Suit flashed before her eyes, one that was darkened in a different way— _corrupted._ Was that another of the alternate realities L.O.G.'s Memory Paradoxes had avoided?

"It shouldn't be long now," Bartlett said from up front. "Sand Island isn't much more than a tiny sandbar just off the coast. There'll be nowhere for the Maverick to hide." Bartlett had explained that morning how the board meeting the previous day had brought up the Maverick's current location. Apparently, Sigma was unavailable to help them deal with Usea because of important business he was attending to on Sand Island. What that business might entail was quite mysterious, however, seeing as there was almost nothing on it but sand, a few shrubs, and a small runway.

Sure enough, just shy of an hour later the wooded landscape below succumbed to the coastline, bordering the eastern ocean. Sand Island was an irregularly shaped blob close enough to shore that even DK could have swum over to it from the mainland. Yet it wasn't as empty as the Strangerealeans had described.

A sleek cobalt Megalandian transport sat on one end of the tiny island, with dozens of small blue specks filing inside like…

"Robots," Samus said.

And with her helmet's magnified lenses, it was confirmed: Not only were scores of Megaman replicas marching into the vessel, but some were taller than others; some had pink visors; some had golden components on their armor; and some were even helmetless, revealing long tufts of rigid black hair that nearly covered the robots' eyes. And overseeing the process were two humanoid figures—one a large, bald man, and the other…

"This isn't good," Samus said. "Sigma's down there overseeing a bunch of those Megaman models we saw back at Wily Fortress go into that transport. And he's with…Jak and Daxter."

"That's not all," Snake said through Cypher. "My camera's auxiliary lenses are telling me that the contents of the transport are highly explosive. Meaning—"

"We can't just blow them all up," Cipher finished. "If we try and kill Sigma, we'll be murdering our friends from the Wasteland too."

"Okay, then," Bartlett said. "You Smashers ready? 'Cause it's time for Operation Hailfire."

"Operation what?" DK said.

In answer, the cargo plane's engines suddenly shut off, and they started dropping from the sky.

If they weren't all belted in, and if he hadn't already been through so many traumatic sky experiences with the Smash Brothers already, DK would have screamed a mighty monkey scream. Instead, he just listened to Samus and Snake swear as his stomach jumped to his throat, the g-force making his insides feel like his blood had become a rapidly rising, roaring tide.

Cipher, meanwhile, nose-dived beside them, anxious to give Sigma as little time to react as possible. Not even Bartlett could tell whether they'd been noticed yet as the ground rapidly approached; and then, when DK was sure they were all about to be smashed into the surface like a tin can, Bartlett reactivated the plane's engines just soon enough to stay in the air, then boosted forward across the short channel of water. Also, the cargo doors opened invitingly—or uninvitingly, depending on how you looked at it.

"Cipher and I'll cover you from the air!" Bartlett shouted. "Now go out there and kick his trash!"

There was no time to think. Samus, Mario, and the other more responsive Smashers grabbed their more hesitant fellows and helped each other jump out of the plane, which was a shocking six or seven feet above the island and provided for a relatively soft landing. Bartlett veered back up just in time to evade an onslaught of laser pellets and charge shots, which were aiming at both him and Cipher. Both pilots, however, outmaneuvered everything the Megaman models sent their way.

Meanwhile, the eleven heroes (Pikachu and Jigglypuff included) plus Cypher found themselves face to face with Sigma, who strangely looked no more real in person than he had as a hologram. Then there was Jak, a tall, tanned young man with pointed ears even longer than Zelda's and yellow-green hair sticking straight upward. He wielded his Morph Gun, a device designed to channel the energy of Eco from his body into weaponized plasma. The disparate types of Eco energy could do anything from kill to save and everything in between—although based on the savage look in Jak's eye, it was doubtful whether he would be using regenerative Green or Light Eco this time. And his companion Daxter, a yellow-orange Ottsel in blue shorts, was baring his teeth as if he were infected with rabies. But the Heartless couldn't do _that_ …could they?

Commander Sigma grinned as he drew a tall scythe with a long laser blade which curved like a wicked lime green fang.

"Kudos for making it past my traps, heroes. You're just in time to witness the culmination of my greatest stratagem yet. This transport, securely guarded by Megaman's evolved replicas, will spell the end for whatever 'purged' worlds you think you've saved. Neither I nor the Heartless may cross over to purged territory…but robots? There is no life in them; no agency; and no heart to be freed or enslaved."

Sora's heart skipped a beat. "You're gonna blow up the rest of Sony just because you can't touch it? _That's_ what Xehanort's had you working on—a bomb?"

Sigma's smile took on a hint of naughtiness. "Oh, this particular project's all my own. I'm sure Master Xehanort will be glad I've cleared the slate for him. And even if he isn't, well…you know what they say: Better to ask forgiveness then permission."

"Well, then, pardon me."

Samus's charge shot was deflected by Sigma's laser scythe, but it immediately precipitated a game of hit and run—Samus firing shots and then rolling away to avoid being sliced in half. Zelda, Sora, and Pikachu joined the dance, while Jak and Daxter wordlessly occupied Yoshi, Mario, and Luigi.

The rest—DK, Red, Jigglypuff, and Kirby—soon had their hands full as well, for a few of the Megaman clones had branched away from shooting Cipher and Bartlett to join the island fray.

* * *

DK had to rely on his simian acrobatics to dodge the incoming laser pellets and Mega Buster shots, all the while popping coconuts out of his hollow log of a gun. He stuck the rubber end of a plunger into the arm cannon of one clone, which mindlessly tried to fire anyway, and consequently exploded.

Red split the Cooper Cane into two gold-pointed blades and ran at the robots together with Jigglypuff and Kirby, sliding beneath the laser projectiles and stabbing the pointed sticks into two clones' legs. As he distracted them, Jigglypuff Mega Kicked one Megaman's head off while Kirby sucked up the other and swallowed it unapologetically, transforming into the goofy, blue-helmeted Megaman Kirby. He raised a tiny arm cannon of his own and began picking off the other bots.

"Poyo!"

* * *

"Look out, bro!" Mario dived in front of Luigi and used his cape to deflect a powerful burst of Red Plasma from Jak's Morph Gun. Jak ducked beneath the energy ball and fired a consecutive stream of Blue Plasma pellets, which struck Mario one after the other like hot billiard balls to the gut.

"Mario!" Luigi narrowed his eyes and brought out the Poltergust 3000 which he'd retained from his Heartless days. The next series of Blue Plasma balls were sucked straight into the nozzle's mouth, and Luigi couldn't resist guffawing as he fired them back at Jack like an automated pitching machine.

Yoshi yelped as Daxter came down on him with his electrified fly swatter. He rolled back, quickly inhaled a tiny bit of Spyro's Aether fire he'd been carrying in a bottle, and spat it back out at the Ottsel.

But it had no effect; a golden sheen on his as well as Jak's bodies indicated that they had been made Heart Softener-proof as well. There would be no easy way out of this.

Yoshi tried to grab the fly swatter with his tongue as Daxter dove at him again, but all that did was shock his entire body, leaving him vulnerable to be zapped several times by the swatter. Daxter pulled out a ridiculously large laser gun with his other hand and grinned evilly down at his victim.

Yoshi managed to whip his tail beneath Daxter's feet, knocking him to the ground. He kicked the laser gun away and peppered him with eggs until Daxter was able to evade one, jump back up, and come for more.

* * *

Sigma's deep electric laugh echoed as he teleported around his four challengers, searing their skin with his laser scythe. Neither Samus's missiles nor Zelda's fire magic nor Sora's and Pikachu's thunderbolts were able to nail down the incredibly dexterous enemy.

Zelda clenched the purple Chaos Emerald in her hands and willed the magic within her to obey.

"Chaos Control!"

Sigma's movements became not still, but extremely languid. An expression of surprise was just beginning to stretch across his face when Pikachu Headbutted him from behind, and Samus then smashed him onto the ground with a heavy downward swing of her arm cannon. Sora came forward with his Keyblade and lunged toward where he guessed the Vassal's heart might be.

An electron cloud of pale blue skulls suddenly emerged from Sigma, shielding his android body from both the Keyblade and the effects of the Chaos Emerald, rendering Zelda's magic useless. He teleported a short distance away and threw his laser scythe to the side with a rather less amused look.

"Why do you humans and beasts fight the evolution of your hearts? Have you ever stopped to consider that perhaps Xehanort's mission is justified? I was created to protect pathetic life forms like you from errant programs…but I soon realized I had such greater potential than my creators' limited minds could see! But Xehanort— _he_ sees it all. _He_ understands the grand scheme of what This World is meant to become. And if you self-righteous meat sacks refuse to embrace that ultimate end of your progression…then you don't belong in This World or any other!"

Sigma's body began to…expand. His armor folded out of itself like a Transformer, his entire form rippling with emerald electricity as his head became encased in a glass shield on top of what had become a giant robotic wolf's head. Its spiked shoulders were as broad as a BattleMech straight from Helios, the internal circuitry and steel ribs of its torso hovering over the sand along with two sets of sharpened iron claws. In that sense, Wolf Sigma was somewhat in keeping with the spirit of Andross, disembodied hands and all.

There were no more words to be had. Wolf Sigma belted a screech akin to a guitar amp whose volume settings were being grossly abused. He conjured a dome of crackling green electricity and sent it pulsing outward.

Nayru's Love and Light Screen protected Zelda and Pikachu, but Samus and Sora weren't so lucky. They screamed and fell to the ground, twitching, as Wolf Sigma bared his steely teeth and emitted a gushing stream of yellow flames to roast the downed heroes alive.

His flamethrower was thrown off course, however, due to the pair of missiles that exploded on contact and blasted him backward. Cipher veered away as Wolf Sigma retaliated with a quartet of heat-seeking missiles from his shoulders, which would occupy even the ace pilot for a couple minutes.

Zelda had managed to give Samus and Sora a brief, concentrated surge of healing magic, just enough to get them back on their feet, while Pikachu charged straight into Wolf Sigma's robotic ribs with his fiercest Volt Tackle. The attack seemed to inflict some damage, but Sigma angrily clawed at Pikachu in response, KO'ing him in one savage strike.

Samus tried to keep the robotic beast briefly at bay with a rapid succession of her own missiles, but it wouldn't hold him long.

"This isn't working," she said. "That metal's electrified and much stronger than Eggman's mech."

Sora just stared at Sigma's approaching hulk. "I can't stop him until he's weakened enough for me to see the keyhole."

Mario made a decision for them, coming out of "left field" with an unorthodox strategy. He had magnetized the OmniWrench and used it to create a cloud of broken Megaman parts over his head. He waved the tool over his head like some combination of a magic wand and a lasso, causing the metal chunks to form a swirling vortex, building dangerous momentum. Finally, he gestured sharply at Wolf Sigma, sending it all at once.

Sigma's electric howl was muffled by the mob of metal fragments that bowled him over like a swarm of angry crows, pushing him steadily toward the edge of the island.

Zelda's eyes widened. "The water," she said.

Then, also from "left field," DK pounced toward Wolf Sigma's resisting mass and released a fully charged punch straight in his jaw, pushing him just far enough to reach the ocean.

The resulting short circuit wasn't pretty. Megaman shrapnel flew in every direction, prompting everyone on the island to drop to the ground—except for the unsuspecting bots that remained, which were impaled and decapitated and otherwise relieved of motor functionality. A bright flare of emerald flames engulfed Wolf Sigma's collapsed figure, its system unable to handle the unexpected conduction of electricity into every mechanical crevice where electricity wasn't supposed to go.

Wolf Sigma uttered a deep-bass snarl, but didn't rise again.

Sora approached the wreckage with Mario, DK, Zelda, and Samus at his side. He raised the Kingdom Key.

"Commander Sigma…you have failed this kingdom!"

He pushed himself into the air and drove the key downward, straight into the flashing keyhole in Sigma's chest. The last flicker of light died from Sigma's pupilless eyes. His body, like Eggman's and Malefor's before him, broke down into shining hearts and was gone.

"Huh?" Daxter lowered his electrified fly swatter and Jak his Morph Gun as their hearts were purified, giving Luigi and Yoshi a reprieve from their battle which had been prolonged until now.

But their satisfaction was temporary as Snake's voice came over their radio speakers.

"Bravo, Smashers; but we still have a problem here."

Samus turned to follow Cypher's swiveling gesture to the now-empty Megalandian transport. A number of black warheads were situated inside—and according to her helmet's zoomed lenses, a classic digital red timer was counting down. From ten minutes.

"Sigma's failsafe. He rigged the bombs to blow us all to Hell in case we beat him."

"How big of an explosion are we talking?" Bartlett asked as he and Cipher circled above.

"Too big," Snake grunted. "Sigma intended for these to level entire regions. All of them together…here…it would be the end for both Strangereal and the Wasteland."

"Got it."

Moments later, the F-15C Eagle was bouncing down the short runway and pulling to a screeching stop beside the rest of the Smashers. Cipher jumped out, glanced at the others, nodded wordlessly, and sprinted into the cobalt transport before anyone could do anything.

"Cipher?" Bartlett was now circling low over them, the alarm apparent in his staticky voice. "What are you…you can't…"

Samus and Cypher and the rest ran after him, but by the time they reached the transport, the doors had already been closed, and it was lifting off.

"Cipher!" Snake's voice blared through all their radios.

There was no response until the transport was already shooting off across the eastern ocean, growing smaller with every second. Finally:

"This is my duty, cadets: to do what needs to be done. You'll win this war. Nothing else matters."

They watched wordlessly for the rest of the ten minutes, the transport disappearing into the clouds.

And then a flash of light.

* * *

 **Enchanted Kingdom**

* * *

The Mystic sighed with satisfaction as she ended her Crystal Eye transmission with the other Microsian Vassals. All had gone as her visions had depicted. Sigma had fallen, and with him, the rest of Sony. She shook her head dismissively. What bigheaded showmen the Sonian Vassals were! Their obsession with the theatrics of the moment had been their undoing.

Finally, her next transmission connected. Over the altar, the floating Crystal Eye depicted Xehanort's emotionless features. If he felt weakened by the loss of three fragments of Kingdom Hearts, he did not show it.

"Master Xehanort." The Mystic inclined her head.

"Your vision came true, Mystic," Xehanort said.

"They always do."

"And now Sora and his merry band will be coming for you and your associates." The faintest of smiles. "Are you afraid?"

"You know I fear nothing, Master. Fear stems from the unknown; but the unknown cannot hide from my Sight."

"Ah…so you have seen more. What do you foresee for Microsoft, then? Are you and the Lurker and the Mercenary destined to fail as well?" It was a tone more of amusement than genuine concern.

The Mystic shrugged. "The others…may succeed, or fail. That's up to them. But this I can tell you…" Beside her gaping empty socket, her single reptilian eye contracted, like Sauron spotting the One Ring close within his grasp.

"The visions are clear. If the Smashers face me, then in no uncertain terms… _they will break._ I have foreseen it. And in spite of the lies I told Kameo before her dear parents died…in spite of what Nintendonians see as the Hand of Fate altering their destiny…the future I perceive through the Crystal Eye is _never_ wrong. Their defeat is inevitable; they just don't know it yet. But soon they will realize…the Hand of Fate is no friend of theirs."


	21. Chapter 16: What Might Have Been

" _I will do better, brother."_

 _ **~Marcus Fenix**_

* * *

Chapter 16: What Might Have Been

* * *

 **Oured**

 **Strangereal**

* * *

 ** _"S_** nake."

Snake almost banged his head on the ceiling of his stateroom. He hastily pulled out his gun from beneath his pillow and aimed its laser-targeting barrel in the direction of the sound. But upon beholding the speaker, he nearly dropped the pistol in shock.

It was a woman with red shoulder-length hair; sharp green eyes; and a FOXHOUND suit comparable to his own. A woman he hadn't seen since he'd watched her die all those years ago.

"No," he whispered. "It can't be."

Meryl Silverburgh smirked ruefully. "Do me a solid and don't go through the whole 'you're dead and can't really be here' routine, won't ya?"

"But…how?" Snake wasn't used to others sneaking up on him _._ That was _his_ job. Now he knew how his targets felt. And he didn't like it.

"The question you should be asking isn't _how,_ " she said, "but _why._ "

Snake blinked, still not completely convinced he was awake. "Okay, Meryl… _why_ are you here?"

Meryl leaned against the wall with her arms folded. "You've done good here, Snake; you really have. I wish I could've been there to watch you kick the Chief's trash…however much the Copyright Wars might not have been his fault. But you helped the Smash Brothers do me justice against Wizpig and L.O.G…and now you've brought salvation to Sony."

There were many things Snake wanted to ask—What happened to her after she died? Could she ever forgive him for hesitating to save her from Master Chief's gun? What did she know about everything going on in the Smash Universe that he didn't? But he had a strange feeling that her very presence here was in its own way an answer to all these questions. And that he was here to listen—not to interrogate (another thing he wasn't used to as a soldier).

"Where the Nintendonians are going now," she continued, "you can't follow. Not even with Cypher. They have their mission; you have yours."

"What?" Snake raised an eyebrow. "But I must help them as long as I can! Xehanort is too powerful for any of us to hold back."

Meryl shook her head. "You might not understand right now," she said, "but all this—everything that's going on—it's happening for a reason. And it won't be long before that reason becomes clear. There'll come a day when Sony no longer needs you, Snake…but for today, you have to keep it together until the Great Convergence comes to a head. The Smashers have a handful of darkened hearts to destroy, but you've got millions of recently purified hearts to resuscitate." She smiled wryly. "Not to mention the heart of one bounty hunter who needs to know you trust her."

Snake knew his comrade and friend was speaking of Samus, and for some reason it made him feel even more sheepish than the guilt of having let Meryl die. He nodded.

"I will stay to help Sony, then. For your sake."

"No, Snake." Meryl's body faded before his eyes, until it was gone. "For yours."

* * *

The legendary ace pilot Cipher was given a hero's funeral, complete with military decor and salutes and ceremonial gunfire. In front of Oured's city hall, President Harling addressed a gathering of not just Strangerealeans and Smashers, but Mobians and Veldinians and Megalandians and Wastelanders and…you get the picture. All the other All-Stars were present as well, bidding their fellow hero a final farewell.

"Cipher was more than a talented pilot and patriot," Harling said slowly and deliberately, Captain Bartlett at his side with a solemn expression. "More than a hero, even. He was a _symbol_ , Sonians: a symbol of what our hearts are capable of. A symbol of the ultimate sacrifice, which many throughout This World had given in the past, and unfortunately, some of us may yet have to give it. But above all—and in light of Usea's recent diplomatic outreach—Cipher was a symbol of hope. If we should all forget the events that transpired here—though I expect we won't—then let us at least remember that hope, and press onward to victory."

Applause. In the midst of the commotion that followed, Mario and the other Smashers were sought out by a dark-haired woman with a young boy holding her hand who couldn't have been older than six. She looked like someone who had been to Hell and back, but in so doing had ultimately found peace.

She approached Mario. "You're the leader of the Smash Brothers?"

Mario nodded.

"I'm Cipher's wife, Mary…and this is our son, David. I…just wanted to thank you for what you did for him. For all of us."

No one had seen that one coming. "His a-wife?" was all Mario could manage. He'd never stopped to consider just how far-reaching the All-Star's impact had been—not just to his nation, but to a normal private life he had kept hidden from the rest of the world.

She smiled sadly. "He never talked about us, did he? Cipher was a good man. Not perfect—sometimes he got so caught up in his heroics that he found little time to spend with us. But he loved us, and he loved his country. And he must have considered it a great honor to serve with heroes like you."

Zelda came up to her and took Mary's hands in her own. "The honor was ours, Mary."

Mary smiled and nodded, and watched with the rest as Cipher's F-15C Eagle was flown by one of his friends across the sky above, forming a familiar shape with its trailing smoke: a circle with an off-centered cross. The symbol of not just the Smash Brothers, but the united strength of Smash Planet.

* * *

The Smashers and All-Stars (exempting Spyro, who was still recovering from his wing injuries) convened back in the air force boardroom to contact Pit. A fountain forming a clear wall of water had been set up on the far end of the table, and with the toss of a Skyworld pebble, the angel's visage soon appeared, his expression as bright as ever.

"Long time no see, All-Stars! You're all together now, so I take it you've got good news?"

Pit was quickly updated on Sony's liberation, and then Mario got down to the heart of the matter.

"We're a-ready to go to Microsoft," he said. "But we a-need to know about the Vassals there."

"Right," Pit said. "Give me a sec…" He consulted his Reflection Pool map, noting the spots marked by bright purple dots. "Looks like there are three Vassals in Microsoft, same as Sony. One's in Sera; another in Pandora; and the third in the Enchanted Kingdom."

"Well, that's a relief," DK said. "I was really starting to worry that Obaba thing in Vigoor would be part of Xehanort's supervillain club."

"What about Heart Softeners?" Red asked. "We've still got some Time Flutes, Dream Water, and Aether flames left, but we should know where else we can stock up just in case."

Pit searched the map of Microsoft for a while and frowned. "Yeah, here's the thing…there _aren't_ any Heart Softeners in Microsoft. So you'll have to make do with what you've got."

Snake couldn't help but snicker. "Typical Microsians…hardest hearts in the universe. Only things they'll open their hearts to are superweapons."

Mario tried not to look too disappointed. "Okey-dokey. Which a-Vassal is the closest?"

"They are all further inland toward the west side of the continent," Megaman said. "But Sera is probably your best bet; the population is small, and it shouldn't be hard to find Marcus Fenix and get him on your side."

The Smashers half-expected Kirby to spout a spontaneous, inexplicable alternative, but this time he seemed content with the decision. Mario nodded.

"Let's a-go."

* * *

After another day of recovering and resupplying in Oured, the Smashers were ready to go. They were taking Samus's gunship, though as they gathered on Sand Island for their final departure, Shadow was to accompany them so that after using the purple Chaos Emerald to teleport to the west coast, the hedgehog could then take the gem safely back to Mobius.

As the Smashers began boarding, saying their goodbyes to the All-Stars, Sora approached Mario tentatively. He wasn't sure how to say what was on his mind. Or rather, what was in his heart.

"Hey…" He had Mario's attention. "So…before we head out to Microsoft, I need to make a short stop on the way. Is that okay?"

Mario shrugged. "I think a-so. Where do you a-need to go?"

"The Destiny Islands," Sora said, causing Mario to raise his eyebrows. "I…I just feel like I need to go there for some reason."

Mario nodded. "That's a-fine. Just not for too a-long."

Sora exhaled with relief. "Thanks."

Kirby approached Sackboy with a tragic expression, and suddenly rushed forward and hugged him.

"Bye," he said.

The small sackcloth puppet returned the gesture, and a though bubble appeared over his head, displaying a smiley face that was functioning simultaneously as a shining cartoon sun.

Behind Kirby's back, Daxter the Ottsel slunk up to Jigglypuff and proffered his electrified fly swatter. She took it with delicate surprise.

"A weapon fit for a queen," Daxter said, slicking back the fur on his head self-consciously. "Just think of me when you're kicking butt with it, won't ya?"

Unlike the last time the two had met, Jigglypuff didn't Double-Slap him in the face this time, but beamed. "Jiggly!"

Samus herself was among the last to board—partly because Megaman had been introducing her to some upgrades he'd made to her Power Suit—and also for another obvious reason. She embraced Snake, feeling an ache that she hadn't felt since losing Captain Falcon.

"This isn't goodbye," she said.

Snake knew as well as she did, however, that her words were far from certain. He stepped back and looked her straight in the eye.

"I'd say be careful, but you're not the one who needs protecting; it's Organization XIII that should be watching themselves." He winked. "All the same, safe travels, bounty hunter. And let me know if you ever figure out that mess with Black Shadow we never resolved."

Samus smiled. "Will do." And then she turned, and walked up the ramp, and didn't look back.

Within moments, the ramp was closed, and the gunship was pushing off the ground. Yoshi looked out longingly at the waving figures below. Whether it was Rayman's disembodied appendages, or Crash Bandicoot's energetic, spinning orange figure, or Megaman's cobalt arm cannon, all of it made him miss Sony and its heroes already.

Zelda offered the Chaos Emerald to Shadow, but he shook his head and smirked.

"Might as well give it another spin while you still can."

Zelda nodded and took the gem in both hands, glancing at Mario and Sora. "To the Destiny Islands, then."

No one objected, and so it was done. They blinked out of sight of the Strangerealean coast…

…and reappeared near the tiny islands in question. Zelda looked down on the small crescent, with one main strip in the center and a couple of puny plateaus connected to the strip with suspended bridges. It was mostly covered in bleached white sand on the inner side of the crescent, with a few small wooden dwellings dotting the shore, and a mass of tropical trees on the other, boasting foliage of many shapes and shades of green and lavender. One enormous tree gave the term "treehouse" new meaning, with a wooden boardwalk winding up its broad perimeter and a network of bridges and holes forming an impressive web of ropes and planks and thatched huts.

Samus lowered the gunship toward the shore and gently landed.

"You all feel free to get out and stretch your legs and eat a snack or whatever," she said. "I'll just wait here until we're ready to leave."

Sora was, of course, the first to disembark. DK and Yoshi went off on their own as well to enjoy the tropical air. Red let Pikachu and Jigglypuff out to play, and Kirby soon had them engaged in a game of hide and seek, though his vacuum-searching tactics could have been considered questionable. The rest—Mario, Luigi, Red, Zelda, and Shadow—stayed on board.

Sora wandered around the entire perimeter of the islands, climbing every boardwalk and crossing every bridge and glancing inside every empty dwelling. He'd known, of course, that the Destiny Islands would be deserted; that had been the case since even before Xehanort had overwhelmed Disney. In fact, the islands had quite the history of being sucked into dark netherworlds and torn apart from the rest of its universe. L.O.G.'s Memory Paradoxes had erased Sora's knowledge of how the islands had become attached to Sony, but the majority of his thoughts were occupied by the events that had driven the Destiny Islands' inhabitants into the refuge of other worlds—Disney Castle, Radiant Garden, Mount Olympus, or otherwise. If only they'd known that the islands had been the safest place to stay all along…

He let the crisp breeze batter his face and ruffle his spiky hair as he sat on a horizontally twisting tree branch that overlooked the eastern ocean, his mind wandering as much as his body, while his heart turned every which way without knowing where to go. He imagined his best friends, Kairi and Riku, sitting on the thick horizontal tree trunk beside him—Kairi's sweet laugh in response to some bull-headed comment made by Riku. They were like ghosts imposed upon the reality before him, yet slowly fading with every passing day.

 _What would you do, King Mickey?_ he thought, recalling the Disney leader who had been invested in his universe's salvation more than anyone. _Is this how you felt every time someone suffered and you could do nothing to help them? Is that why you sent Donald and Goofy with me—your court magician and captain of the royal guard—to come along on my adventures? Because you needed someone to bear the burden with you?_

Sora noticed the sun high above—a blinding circle that demanded respect, but at the same time provided light and warmth. Like the benevolent, salvific god that Disney had needed, but never received; or maybe like the mysterious Hand of Fate everyone in the Smash Universe seemed to be talking about. He could picture the craterous, cream-colored, heart-shaped moon that had been an iconic part of the Destiny Islands' skies when they were still attached to Disney. Actually, the imagined moon in the sky above him was quite vivid. Almost too real to be imaginary…

 _Utter darkness—save for the dazzling blue-green heart pulsing before him, its light quickly swallowed by a somehow sentient blackness. He was alone—just him and his Keyblade. And yet, he felt as if he were in the eye of a tornado, the darkness forming a raging cyclone that threatened to swallow him as well. He couldn't tell whether the Kingdom Hearts were fighting it off…or controlling it._

 _And somehow, contained within that darkness were flickers and lightning glimpses of people, and places, and things, and ideas. It all went too fast for him to get a good look at any of them, but at the same time, a cacophonous chorus of whispered yells echoed from all sides, most of which was muddled nonsense, but every now and then he could make something out._

 _"…the Nintendo World belongs to me…"_

 _"…your existence is meaningless…"_

 _"…there is no such thing as a pure heart…"_

 _"…Nintendo is as corrupt as the other worlds…"_

 _For the first time, Sora realized he was floating in space, and a sudden rush of panic bulldozed into him. What was he supposed to do? The raging black currents and flashing images and overlapping voices were overwhelming, and the only fixed part of this entire place was the giant heart. Everything seemed to assault him from all sides, body and soul, pressuring him to succumb to despair. He wanted to scream, but he couldn't even do that. All he could do was float and observe this nightmare. Observe chaos in its purest form._

"Sora!"

Suddenly, he was back on the Destiny Islands, sitting on the horizontal tree trunk, staring at the empty spot of sky where he could have sworn he'd just seen the heart-shaped moon. He found he was breathing heavily, his eyes hot and moist, as Yoshi watched him with concern.

"Are you okay?" Yoshi asked.

Sora hopped off and scratched his head and began walking back down the beach.

"Yeah," he said. "Just thinking."

As they returned to the gunship, he didn't elaborate on what exactly he had been thinking—on what conjecture he had drawn about what he had just seen.

Was this what Xehanort had done to Disney?

* * *

Zelda used the Chaos Emerald one last time, transporting them to a familiar locale with bittersweet memories (though mostly bitter): Candy Chateau, the toffee-cliffed western edge of the Glade of Dreams, and of Sony itself.

This time, Shadow accepted the Chaos Emerald from Zelda and turned to face them all.

"Don't screw this up, Smashers," he said, and twinkled away.

"Thanks for the words of encouragement," DK muttered as Samus took off from the caramelized cliffs and headed out to open ocean.

They headed southwest for the first couple hours and then due west so that they could come upon Microsoft—specifically Sera—from the south. All things considered, the gunship was probably the most comfortable mode of travel they had experienced on their journey thus far. Not only were they completely protected from the wind and the cold, but they were afforded a spectacular view of the ocean, which soon surrounded them as far as they could see on all sides. The only negative associations were within the minds of Zelda (as Tetra) and Yoshi, who had both crossed these waters while in the mildewy brig of the Seran battleship _Delta 5_.

Two uneventful days of travel passed by. Of course, Samus could have made her ship go several times as fast as the swiftest Strangerealean jet, but her vessel was built primarily for space travel—not within atmospheres of unpredictable air densities. So she took it at a steady pace. For 48 hours they played Red's card games, ate some of Oured's finest travel food, and speculated about the identities of the rest of Organization XIII. (So far they knew of the King of the West [Cyber K. Rool], the Ascetic [Quentin], the Voyager [identity unknown], the Forger [Smithy], Vaati and whatever his title was, the Desolator [Eggman], the Forsworn [Malefor], and the Maverick [Sigma], leaving the three in Microsoft and two others probably in outer space somewhere, assuming Xehanort wasn't counting himself among their number.) Finally, after two days had passed, Microsoft came into sight on the northern horizon.

The only Nintendonian who had ever been to Sera before was Diddy Kong (albeit underground as he raced against Wizpig), and obviously he wasn't there to introduce the passengers of Samus's gunship to the dystopian wasteland that was the Seran landscape.

It wasn't a wasteland like the desolated Mobius or like the actual Sonian territory known as the Wasteland; the reason for this was because the darkened hills and valleys and plains were far from barren, instead covered with inconceivable amounts of abandoned civilization. Splintered neighborhoods formed the base of tangled telephone lines, which interwove around vehicles that were crushed like tin cans. Even through the gunship's air filters, the heroes could already smell the horrendous stench of rotting flesh and sucking mud and charred buildings and metallic debris. Many plumes of black smoke drifted slowly upward, in no hurry to complete their contribution to the gray-orange haze that saturated the airspace. It was clear, however, that even with the lingering smoke, this apocalyptic destruction was no recent event. It was, somehow, simply the state of things.

There were no signs of movement as they passed over the rocky coast, which consisted of wooden beams and black gasoline and lots and lots of dirt leaking out into the ocean like an overflowing garbage can. All the same, Samus had her trigger fingers at the ready. The Starman ambush on Synobazz was still relatively fresh in her mind, it being one of her last experiences before the Heartless took over.

"Pi-kaaaaa," Pikachu complained, plugging his sensitive nose against the ungodly odor.

"It _does_ smell really bad," Red agreed. He turned to Mario. "Pit gave us more directions than just to go to Sera, right? I don't think any of us wanna spend any more time here than we have to."

Mario nodded. "It's a-hard to know for sure where the Vassal will a-be, but he told us to start at Jacinto Plateau, where we should find Marcus a-Fenix and the rest of COG."

"What's COG again?" DK asked.

Mario, who had developed somewhat of a strange kinship with the Seran Sentinel after the end of the Copyright Wars, knew the most about Sera, though that still wasn't a lot. "The Coalition of Ordered a-Governments, I think. They protected a-Sera from the invading Locusts—until the Moon a-Deity did away with their enemies."

"Huh," DK said. "Well, at least that dirty swine did _something_ useful before Master Chief chopped his head off."

"Plateau, you said?" Yoshi pointed out the windshield as Sera scrolled below. "I think we're there."

And indeed, a particularly flooded region of suburban districts transitioned into a murky brown moat that surrounded a large plateau, which was covered with the least dilapidated cluster of urban structures they had seen so far. Business skyscrapers mingled with military walls and turrets and industrial towers with thick smog billowing from their smokestacks.

"Um…" Sora looked uncertainly at the looming city-fortress, then at Samus. "This place is probably crawling with Heartless COG soldiers ready to blast us out of the sky. Are we sure we want to fly right up to it in plain sight?"

To his surprise, Samus actually laughed.

"I'm counting on it," she said. "That's why I had Ratchet and Clank help me make some modifications to my ship's defense systems. Watch this."

She pulled up a shiny white lever that clearly hadn't been there before this trip, and pointed her triggers down at Jacinto City. And fired.

Two large missiles disengaged from the gunship and began speeding toward the heart of the city.

"Mama-mía!" Luigi cried. "What are you a-doing? We want to save a-the world, not blow it up!"

But Kirby nudged him in the shins and pointed with his arm stub. "Watch."

Sure enough, the missiles exploded into broad showers of bright white flames—Aether flames. The spreading fire didn't cause any physical damage to the city whatsoever; it simply soaked into the buildings and streets and vehicles and everything and everyone in between, rekindling darkened hearts just as it had kindled Cynder's.

They all watched in silence as, in the city below, people began to wander out of their cars and out of buildings onto the streets, shielding their eyes against the lingering flickers of Aether (certainly not against the dull glow of the polluted sky). They were all human, but unusually thick-built and muscular, most of them clad in heavy armored vests with guns strapped across their backs—both men and women.

"I think it's safe to go down now," Zelda said. Welcome words indeed for a group that had been repeatedly faced with hostile, murderous friends.

Samus tilted the gunship down accordingly, ignoring the stares of nearly everyone in the city as she landed on a flat unoccupied spot near the edge of the plateau. People began approaching the foreign spaceship, but with utterly passive (if confused) demeanors. It was like Samus had landed in a city of innocent utopian pacifists—not a remote outpost of post-apocalyptic survivors.

"That's it?" DK said as they prepared to disembark. "No perilous firefights or psychological dramas to make us earn the allegiance of the region's resident heroes?"

"What?" Samus led the rest down the ramp to meet the congregated Serans outside. "Hey; Xehanort's stacked a lot of hellishly overpowered cards against us. I'm taking every shortcut I can get."

"Fair enough," DK said as he followed them out.

There was a moment of awkward silence as the rugged people watched the Smashers curiously.

"We're a-here to help you," Mario said finally. "Is Marcus a-Fenix—"

"Of course I am, mushroom munchers," Marcus Fenix said as he pushed through the crowd and approached Mario with a huge grin on his face. He didn't take into account the fact that only two of the visitors habitually consumed Super Mushrooms (or three if you counted Kirby's voracious willingness to eat anything).

Red felt a little intimidated by the broad-chested, soul-patched man, but he did his best to break the ice. "The Heartless really had a terrible effect on Sera, didn't they?" He inclined his head toward their dystopian surroundings.

Fenix followed Red's look, a bit perplexed. "You mean the ruined civilization?" He chuckled. "That's just the way Sera is, kid; the Heartless don't have a thing to do with it. Now come on, Nintendonians; I think I know what you're here for. Let me show you what Xehanort's craven creatures _have_ done to our little paradise."

* * *

It took some time for both parties to become fully informed on the situation in the Smash Universe. Xehanort had, after all, segregated people into their own regions so strictly during the past three years that at times many would forget there was anything beyond their boundaries at all. Marcus and a bunch of similarly bulky men (and the occasional bulky woman) were clustered with the Smashers inside an abandoned hotel lobby, which Red would have expected to be a tad better preserved considering this island of civilization was one of only a few remaining populated areas left in Sera. But the place's history was clearly far too complex for him to understand all at once, so he contented himself with Fenix's abridged account.

"Before the Locust Horde ever became a problem, COG was engaged in a devastating, 79-year war against the UIR—the Union of Independent Republics—for control over the powerful natural resource known as Imulsion. That's really what made Sera the way it is. The Pendulum Wars only came to an end when COG won the Battle of Aspho Fields, seized the UIR's superweapon the Hammer of Dawn, and used it to obliterate them from off the face of the planet."

"Sounds ethical," DK said.

Fenix ignored him. "Then, of course, the Locusts arrived. Even worse, we discovered that Imulsion itself is a parasite that can mutate those exposed to it into deranged monsters called Lambent. I have to admit, I was pretty sold when Wizpig ended them all for us; that's why we were willing to do pretty much whatever Master Chief told us—even using the Hammer of Dawn against Nintendo and Sony." There was weary regret in his voice. "But I'll never excuse myself for giving into the bloodlust. That cost many of my men their lives in the Battle for Microsoft—including my best friend, Dominic, who unlike me was actually able to see through the corruption of the Copyright Wars."

Mario put a hand on Fenix's shoulder, which was difficult considering their height difference. "That's all behind us a-now. You've a-changed and become a better leader since a-then."

Fenix laughed bitterly and shook his head. "I wish I could say that's the case, Mario. But you should know…here in Microsoft, the Heartless bring out some of the nastiest traits imaginable. I'm sure you Nintendonians've got your flaws, but _we_ …well, let's just say if our worlds are really all just video games like L.O.G. said, I wouldn't exactly market them to children. Be grateful you haven't been here while we've been at war with neighboring cities. The struggle for control over the Imulsion resurfaced. In our Heartless state we forgot the consequences of messing with it, consumed by our warmongering nature. And as consequence, Jacinto Plateau is really the only sane haven left. The rest…let's just say you wouldn't wanna invite them to a tea party."

"Okay," Samus said. "But what does that have to do with the Vassal here?"

"I'm getting to that. This 'Vassal' you speak of can only be the one we know as the Lurker. She's an evil beast who reigns from Sera clear over to the deserts of Vigoor. The few who have seen her and lived to tell the tale speak of her as a marrow-sucking monster possessed with ancient magicks, driven mad by her entrapment in a pit for many years prior to Xehanort's rise."

"Marrow-sucking? Pit? That's gotta be…" If it were possible for DK's face to pale, it would have. Instead, his expression resembled a misshapen coconut horrified by its terrible shave job. He glared up into the sky as if there were some kind of narrative camera he could accuse. "Are you serious?"

"Obaba!" Kirby said. And then he began repeating the word and bouncing around, as if it were merely a trio of funny syllables designed to titillate a child's vocal cords.

As if waiting for his cue, a dark-skinned Seran burst into the crumbling hotel lobby, panting.

"Fenix…we've got a problem."

Marcus was suddenly all business. "What's up, Cole?"

Cole paused for a moment to catch his breath. "Chairman Prescott has sounded the alarm—we're under attack."

"Attack?" Fenix's eyebrow arched. "By who? More of our new Lambent friends?"

"Them," Cole said, "and the Lurker. She's here."

* * *

From the Serans' perspective on Jacinto Plateau, the wave of incoming Lambent looked like a mass of heaving flesh-colored specks, spreading across the wasted cities like an aggressive virus. And that would have been all well and good, except that they were coming from not just one direction, but all of them. Marcus Fenix handed Mario a pair of binoculars so he too could get a closer look at the horrifying creatures.

They had clearly once been human, and they didn't possess any demon horns or missing zombie limbs or anything over-the-top like that. What they did possess was as close as you could get to bare skulls with just a single thin layer of pale translucent skin stretched over the naked bone. They were dressed in ragged street clothes with unnatural centipede-like parasites woven across their bodies like vile stitches. And perhaps most alarmingly, their eyes and mouths were empty sockets through which the eerie yellow of Imulsion glowed.

The Lambent rushed and staggered toward the flooded "moat" as mindlessly as the ADAM-driven Splicers of Rapture. It was as if someone had dangled a giant piece of meat on the top of the plateau and they were all rushing to get first pick.

"Where's the Lurker?" DK asked, hoping Fenix would say that it had all been a big mistake and a false alarm.

Fenix pointed further out to the west, where a distantly visible black depression marked the beginning of a tunnel.

"She burrows through the earth now—something she was never able to do until shortly before the Heartless came. Until she decides to show herself…"

"We Swiss-cheese ourselves some bugs," Samus said, beginning to charge her arm cannon. The bounty hunter had no great love for parasites, having had more than her share of alien insects in her day.

Fenix nodded. The Lambent were about to cross into firing distance. He raised his Lancer. "We can't let even one of 'em up here, or else risk having our last safe haven infected. Blow them all to bits!"

The siege began. COG soldiers, forming a complete ring around their tiny city, unleashed their firearms, shooting down scores of Lambent before they could reach the base of the plateau. Turrets along the city walls contributed with sizable explosions that took out a dozen or more enemies at once. And blood and gore were definitely a thing, but something the Smashers chose not to focus on. Such details, to them, just seemed excessive and unsavory. Not to mention mind-numbing.

The Smashers contributed as best they could from a distance, mostly keeping close to Marcus Fenix and his teammate Cole. Mario and Luigi tossed fireballs; Zelda cast consecutive bursts of Din's Fire; Yoshi chucked eggs; DK fired coconuts with one gun and plungers with the other; Sora cast Freeze spells; Pikachu ejected Thunderbolts while Red and Jigglypuff stood ready to bat away any Lambent that dared attempt to scale the plateau, wielding their Cooper Cane and electric flyswatter respectively. Samus had a heyday sending down charge shots and missiles, while Kirby had sucked up a defunct landmine and, as Bomb Kirby, flung round black bombs down at the unfortunate recipients below.

This combined strategy seemed to work well for about twenty minutes; the Lambent were unable to make much headway through the flooded perimeter, howling and grunting aggressively in stereotypical zombie fashion. But then the ground beneath the town square began to shake. Several of the Smashers, along with Fenix, turned in alarm in response to the foreboding disturbance.

The paved intersection cracked (even more than it had already been before), and then suddenly burst apart like a firework made of cement fragments. Large slabs of street caved in as a massive black figure the size of an oil rig spun itself out of the ground, catching the attention of many COG soldiers but the availability of only a few due to their occupation with the Lambent hordes.

Obaba's face reminded Zelda vaguely of the Gerudo witches Koume and Kotake, with a similar beak-like nose and cruel, wrinkled face, haggish gray hair streaking into a dastardly point. She was as pale as death, and yet her sinewy skin had become nearly as dark as the pit in which she had been confined for many years. Her demonic red eyes, together with the ivory horns protruding from the sides of her head and her shoulder blades, not to mention the tusks curving from the edges of her mouth, gave a unified impression of Mephistophelian malice.

But that wasn't even the most disturbing part about her. Obaba's fiendish face and bony headdress were attached to an equally bony torso (her ribcage was in fact on the outside of her chest), which was connected to an enormous spider-like abdomen with an obsidian sheen and an unearthly blue light glowing from within. Her arms were disproportionately large and muscular, black-horned and needled and clawed like some devilish prickly giant. In sum, her body was a sort of tractor-sized circus ball, which was balanced by her monstrous arms.

All available COG soldiers yelled and opened fire on the beast, a few being so bold as to run at the Vassal's abdomen with their chainsaw-edged Lancers raised.

Obaba emitted a strange clicking and hissing noise and pushed her body counterclockwise with her hands, becoming a deadly giant top that crushed or sent flying anyone within her wide range. The bullets had a negligible effect on any part of her body.

 _"Smashersss…"_ she hissed, followed by more animalic clicking sounds.

The Nintendonians (plus Sora) all looked at each other and nodded. This was the opportunity they had been waiting for—DK perhaps less enthusiastically than the rest. They approached Obaba in a steady line, Marcus Fenix and Sora on either end.

"Your reign of terror ends now, witch!" Fenix yelled, gesturing with his head for the Smashers to spread out and begin forming a ring around the giant spider monster.

Unfortunately, unlike the Vassals they had encountered thus far, Obaba didn't seem to be the type for long villainous monologues with her prey. However capable of human speech she might have once been, it was clear that years of isolated entrapment in pitch blackness with only the skeletons of her victims for company had not been beneficial for her social skills.

Obaba did a sort of Lanky Kong lunge, pushing off her hands from behind and surging toward the center of the Smashers' spreading line. Mario and DK barely managed to roll out of the way, but one fist pound and a swipe later, Mario was half-buried in rubble, unconscious, while DK had been sent into the wall of a defunct liquor store (at least, it _had_ been defunct until the Heartless came). His fear, evidently, had been justified.

Kirby quickly summoned his Warp Star, allowed Luigi to hop on for old times' sake, and rose into the sky, providing an effective diversion by dropping bombs on Obaba while Luigi conjured the occasional green fireball and, more importantly, made provocative poses that were sure to incite the enemy to anger. Which they did.

Obaba pushed off the ground again, this time straight upward so she could swipe at the irritating duo. The rest conferred below as they completed their ring.

"Samus, you're good at finding weak spots on monsters, right?" Fenix said. "Name the place, and I'll stick my Lance in it like a plug into a socket."

Samus was quiet for a moment. A frantic, stressful, perilous moment. "She's impervious to bullets," she said. "Which means there are no weak spots on the outside. If someone could sneak into that gap between her torso and her, um, abdomen, they might be able to reveal something vulnerable underneath whatever Vigoorian magic and Kingdom Hearts power she's souped up with."

"We're too big, though," Red said, frowning. "Not even Pikachu or—"

But as he looked down at his Pokémon, Jigglypuff was already gone, puffing up toward Obaba's bouncing abdomen, electric flyswatter raised.

Red wanted to cry out his friend's name, but he knew that to do so would be to alert the distracted Obaba of her approach. He would just have to trust she knew what she was doing.

As Obaba crashed onto her obsidian abdomen again and shoved off once more to have another go at the Warpstar, Jigglypuff floated inconspicuously up to where her skeletal torso met the spherical base—and deflated herself.

Like a popped balloon, her body collapsed on itself to the thickness of a pancake and slid into the gap, which couldn't have been more than a few inches high. There was a spark of electricity from beneath the abdomen's obsidian plate, and Obaba finally turned away from Kirby and Luigi, hissing as she scratched at the tiny crevice with her unwieldy claws.

Moments later, Jigglypuff burst from the shattering armored shell, wielding Daxter's flyswatter triumphantly and Rollouting back toward her Trainer before Obaba could catch her.

"Nice going, Jigglypuff!" Red cheered.

"Puff," she replied modestly, her cheeks blushing.

But Obaba was far from amused. The shell had fallen away to reveal an almost blinding neon blue light, as if a giant will-o'-the-wisp had been concealed within. She leaned back precariously on her spherical abdomen and let out a high-pitched shriek that was like a hybrid mix between the Aparoid Queen of Lylat and Gruntilda the Witch.

Samus cocked her arm cannon and pointed it at the huge bright blue area. "And _that's_ what we call a weak spot."

Obaba's next move was too quick to anticipate. Instead of rolling forward, she leaned all the way back until her torso and arms stretched out nearly to the opposite side of the town square. A thick beam of deadly blue light shot from the underside of her abdomen, and like some sort of angled rocket, it caused her entire body to pivot like the hands of an enormous, homicidal clock face. Samus managed to Morph Ball her way underneath the witch monster, and Zelda teleported to safety atop the liquor store with Farore's Wind. But Yoshi, Red, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff weren't so lucky, being knocked away as hard as Donkey Kong and as unconscious as Mario. Sora barely Flowmotioned out of reach, and Fenix dove into the tunnel from which the Vassal had come. And as Obaba performed this stunning multifaceted attack, a stream of amorphous shadows erupted from her back and streaked toward the Warpstar in the form of savage, red-eyed crows. Luigi and Kirby would be kept more than occupied.

Sora, Samus, and Zelda faced Obaba alone now, chilled by the presence of a monster who had once been quite sane—human, even—but who had become so twisted through her own obsession with witchcraft and dark designs that now she resembled only the most depraved, insidious parts of a living soul.

 _"It'sss time…to feed…"_

She lunged forward this time, performing a perverse sort of handstand, and launched herself high, the unusual momentum of her abdomen and arms giving her an advantageous angle as she fell toward the heroes below.

Zelda used Farore's Wind to teleport them to safety—except Samus, who leapt up to meet Obaba. She curled through the Vassal's winding tusks and left behind a small present in the form of a flashing red Grappler Bomb—one of Megaman's toys that he'd been so kind as to install into her suit.

The murderous murder of crows began to swarm around Samus's airborne figure, but just in time, the Warpstar came close enough for her to Grappler Beam onto one of its five bright points and allow herself to be tugged away—still in danger, but at least not at the fowls' complete mercy.

Meanwhile, the Grappler Bomb went off with a small explosion that elicited another angry set of hisses and clicks, for it had created a single crack in Obaba's abdomen. Obaba spotted the place to which Zelda and the others were in the process of teleporting, grinned wickedly, and brought her prickly arms together to crush the unsuspecting Smashers like gnats.

Her attempt, however, was thrown way off by the excruciating stab of Marcus Fenix's Lancer. Fenix had climbed back up from the caved-in pavement below and jammed the chainsaw gun into the bright blue abdomen like a lumberjack challenging a Redwood tree.

She bore down upon Fenix with a slight but tremendous shift of her weight, rolling right onto the Seran and crushing him beneath her prodigious weight, leaving his head and shoulders to give herself a moment to gloat before popping his head off like a bottlecap. She leaned down until she was face to face with her struggling victim.

 _"Man flesh…scrumptioussssss…Now I will sssuck your bones dry…"_

Obaba's feeding was delayed one final time by the sound of a fear-defying simian cry. One DK punch-assisted Flowmotion later, Sora was clutching the Kingdom Key which was now embedded in the blue sphere almost up to the hilt—a flashing keyhole visible around the point of penetration.

The color drained from the witch's inhuman ruby eyes, her abominable wrinkles and tusks and spindly arms falling backward into her collapsed tunnel—fortunately in a direction that left the rest of Fenix's crushed body free. Her fallen face stared directly into Sora's grim one.

"Obaba," he said, "you have failed this kingdom."

Not another word was uttered. Her body, as well as that of her demonic crows, transformed into spinning white hearts even brighter than Obaba's abdomen had been. And then, the rest of her essence having ascended to the heavens, she was gone.

It couldn't have been a coincidence that as soon as the Organization XIII member fell, the remaining Lambent became disheartened and retreated back into the godforsaken ruins of Sera. Their only conscious thought was of hunger—not the hunger of the human hosts they occupied, but of the parasites that desired only to spread and infect the rest of This World. But today, that hunger had been staunchly denied.

There was neither energy nor mental faculty for words among those who still stood in the town square. They simply allowed the COG soldiers to attend to them, treating what could be treated and then ushering them onto stretchers and into makeshift hospitals. The Smashers might not have been defeated, but at least in a loose, physical sense, they had begun to break.

* * *

 **Tairon**

 **Vigoor**

* * *

The celebratory feast was hosted by Ryu and the rest of the Hayabusa Ninja Clan in what had once been Wizpig's Palace, but had been dismantled and reconstructed as a shrine to the Hayabusas. During the years of the Heartless, Ryu's people had been infused with a consuming self-idolatry that had rendered them as mindless as the Pokémon cultists in Kanto.

They had, of course, invited representatives from Sera and Eden Prime, who had likewise been liberated upon Obaba's demise and had come via Gadd's still-standing portals. And they had also delayed the festivities for three days while the Smashers recovered from their injuries. Some of those injuries were rather severe, requiring daily soaks in Tairon's healing springs as well as regular application of the remarkable powers of the Herb of Spiritual Life. It was a magical plant that accelerated the recovery process and in several cases prevented permanent injury—particularly in the cases of Mario and Marcus Fenix.

The golden hall, which was thankfully stripped of the haunting Wizpig statues and throne that had once occupied it, boasted long white-clothed tables with many Vigoorian delicacies, ranging from special rice balls called Omusubi to roast crow (not unintentionally ironic) to noodle soups flavored with rare native spices—spices which Kirby enjoyed perhaps a little too much. It was a good thing he and Ryu went way back, their relationship beginning when he had saved the ninja's life on the Isle o' Hags as Croc Kirby. Otherwise, his unconventional eating habits might have been an affronting disturbance to the Hayabusas' cultural traditions and customary etiquette.

To her surprise, however, Zelda found herself, rather than Kirby, the subject of Ryu's attention. He bowed to her before carefully unsheathing his exceptionally shiny sword from his back—and held it out to her. The hall fell silent as the spectacle caught everyone's attention.

"This, Princess Zelda, is the Dragon Sword," Ryu said. "It is infused with the Dragon's Eye, a powerful magical object that was stolen—again—by the hag Obaba. Thanks to you and your friends, the Eye has been restored, making it the True Dragon Sword, whose magic only a mage of the highest order can rightfully wield.

"I may be its rightful heir," Ryu continued, "but it yearns to do more in this great struggle against Xehanort. And it cannot do so in my hand; so, I lend it to you with great trust. The Sword has slain many evil beings in the past, and it will not fail to do so again so long as you remain worthy of it."

"Thank you," was all Zelda could say as she tentatively took it by the handle and blade and bowed back. She wasn't used to being presented with weapons herself; it was as if Rauru the Sage of Light had given the Master Sword to _her_ instead of Link.

Her hand clenched around the hilt and she raised it, looking at her reflection in its perfect gleam. For Link. She would wield the Dragon Sword for him. She would make him proud, find within herself the courage he had always given her.

"So," Luigi said beside Captain John Shepard, who was ever the likeness of Wentworth Miller. "Do you have any neat a-gadgets for us?" Of course, by "us," he privately meant himself. "You know, so a piece of Eden a-Prime will keep a-fighting Xehanort with us."

Shepard raised his arm, causing a translucent scarlet dagger to sprout from his wrist. He smiled wryly.

Luigi's eyes grew big with admiration. "Wow…really? For a-me?"

The captain of the _Normandy_ caused the blade to sheath itself, lowered his arm, and laughed. "Sorry, Luigi. The Omni-Tool's wired specifically to my nervous system. I couldn't get it to work for you even if I tried. It's too bad; that princess of yours—Princess Peach—she was quite something, and I wouldn't want you to go dying on her on my account, would I? A real shame."

Luigi laughed uncertainly, not sure how much of that had been a joke. But Shepard winked at him.

"Don't worry; I'm sure we can work out some way for Eden Prime to be of use to you Nintendonians. Just…not that particular way."

At another table, Red, Sora, and Yoshi were doing their best to tolerate DK's boastful recounting of his heroics as he'd given Sora the necessary boost to send the Kingdom Key into its target. Sora laughed uncertainly and made sure he nodded at the right moments to confirm the Kong's story. He really was grateful for DK's help in that desperate moment, but he hadn't seen anything go to someone's head like that since…since Riku.

"You really overcame your fear, DK," Yoshi said. "Way to go."

"Fear?" DK snorted. "I was never afraid of that glorified garden spider. In fact, I was _hoping_ Obaba would be one of the Vassals the whole time so I could finish wiping Wizpig's memory off the face of This World myself."

"Pikaaa," Pikachu said doubtfully.

Mario and Marcus Fenix, meanwhile, were deep in conversation about their bodies' miraculous recoveries thanks to the Herb of Spiritual Life.

"Don't you worry about me, mushroom muncher," Fenix said with a smile after downing a goblet of Vigoorian spirits. "So what if I walk with a bit of a limp and am a bit short of breath from now on? It was well worth it to see the great Mario Brothers in action once again—and to fight by their side. Not to mention the fact that your friend Sora effectively stopped the Lambent once and for all. Picking off the rest of 'em now will be a cakewalk. So here's to the future, eh?" He raised his already refilled glass. Those Hayabusa servers were something else.

Mario thought of his interrupted wedding—of the peaceful honeymoon on Delfino Island that might have been, but had been cut off by the Heartless' invasion. He thought of Sora's expression as he'd reboarded Samus's gunship on the Destiny Islands, of all that might have been in Disney had Xehanort not destroyed that hope. And he thought of the haunting last words of L.O.G.—that the only destiny he had to look forward to was one prescribed by a team of game developers who controlled his every move.

"To our a-future," he said, raising his glass.


	22. Chapter 17: Hootenanny

" _Revolutions are by necessity built on blood."_

 _ **~Master Chief**_

* * *

Chapter 17: Hootenanny

* * *

 **Tairon**

 **Vigoor**

* * *

 ** _M_** arcus Fenix awoke from his dream, which had been surprisingly absent of blood and gore. In fact, it had been the most peaceful sleep he'd experienced for as long as he could remember. Something about unicorns and rainbows…was this how Nintendonians felt every night?

He rolled out of his burlap hammock and stood on the wooden floor, rubbing his eyes. He felt around for his Lancer, too drowsy for a moment to fully register the very important reason he had woken up in the middle of the night. Then he remembered that weapons in the hostels of Tairon were strictly forbidden, and that he wouldn't need a gun to relieve himself (the lack of private bathrooms was a strange gap in Tairon's housing commodities).

Fenix stepped outside into the warm Vigoorian night of the canyonlands, gave his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness, and headed into the dry bushes to do his business. He had just finished when a loud rustle literally almost scared his pants off. He swung around and raised his fists—only to lower them immediately at the unexpected, impossible sight before him.

Even in the darkness, Dominic Santiago's short beard and rugged features and thick, muscular body were unmistakable. Not to mention his generally milder presence when compared to Fenix's own.

Dominic grinned at his best friend's speechlessness. "Hello, brother."

"Dom…" Marcus could hardly believe his eyes. "You're…back from the dead?"

Dominic shook his head. "'Fraid not."

"Then…you've been sent to give me some sage advice, some secret to stopping Xehanort?"

"Not even that," Dominic said.

A dark thought occurred to Fenix. "Are you here to kill me?"

Dominic actually chuckled. "Of course not. I just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. And to say…that I forgive you. For everything."

He didn't have to say that "everything" meant Fenix's arrogant belligerence that had led to Dominic's death. If Fenix hadn't insisted on fighting to the last man on the hopeless northern front of the Battle for Microsoft, their battleship wouldn't have been there when Wizpig rained Hell upon everyone present, and a chunk of the falling Spartan Frigate wouldn't have killed Dominic as a result.

Fenix was so taken aback by this surreal experience that he actually pinched himself to check he was awake. He was. And once he knew that, a great peace settled on his mind, and in his heart. He smiled.

"I told you I would do better. You showed me the better way. And the Nintendonians have helped me to follow it. Our people can feel safe again—forever this time."

"I know, brother," Dominic said. "I know."

And then he laughed and was gone.

* * *

The day after the celebration, Mario, Sora, and the rest loaded up into Samus's gunship—this time with even more food storage thanks to the generosity of the Hayabusa Clan—and headed out. Their next destination? Pandora. The town of Sanctuary, to be precise.

Unfortunately, even Gadd's high-tech portals were too small to admit something as large as a spaceship, so they would have to cover the distance in a more traditional fashion. The good news, though, was that the miles of Vigoor and Eden Prime they were to cross were now free from the Heartless, and therefore safe to travel through.

As sad as it was to part from their Microsian friends, DK and Samus were particularly anxious to leave Tairon and what had been Wizpig's Palace and the Pit of Obaba far behind. The memories of what had transpired there were far less appealing than whatever prospects they might be faced with next.

The Vigoorian canyonlands scrolled beneath them like a magnified view of a cracked piece of earth, the city and palace and pit quickly receding behind the ship. There wasn't much to look at for an hour or two, but then a few interesting landmarks Ryu had told them about came into sight.

They passed over the dusty brown abbey and slanted roofs of the cloister enclosing the Dorku Monastery. Ryu had mentioned it as a place haunted by Shadow Demons and Monk Fiends, and thus not the best of rest stops.

Then, an hour later, the steep escarpments of Mount Fuji came into view—a broad-based mountain with trace amounts of snow toward the top. The Nintendonians couldn't help but think of the Icicle Mountains, which were certainly much taller overall, but Fuji's gradually sloping volcanic cone and its forested surroundings and cloudy moat had a special beauty all their own. According to Ryu, hidden somewhere at its base was the secretive Hayabusa Village, where Ryu and his family dynasty claimed their roots. The ninja had also mentioned in passing that there had been Fiends and Archfiends sealed away in the Underworld beneath the mountain. Another interesting tidbit about a place the Smashers didn't particularly care to visit.

Mount Fuji marked the end of the aridness of Vigoor and the beginning of the natural verdure of Eden Prime. Mario, DK, and Samus had just about exhausted the extent to which they could plan ahead, seeing as they weren't sure who Pandora's Vassal was. All they could do was determine that a couple of them would scout ahead, find a knowledgeable Pandoran to purge and gain intel from (preferably one of the Vault Hunters, the Microsian Sentinels of the region), and sneak out without creating a scene.

So with that loose framework of a plan, they had plenty of time to appreciate Eden Prime's picturesque plains and rivers and pine forests. Red's card games had become quite popular (everyone had joined in at one point or another except for Samus and Zelda), to the point that when Sora came on top as the card tournament's surprise victor, there were not a few mildly bitter feelings milling about. Nothing, of course, that some fresh Omusubi couldn't fix.

It was late afternoon when they crossed over the northern border of Eden Prime into the borderlands of Pandora (pun intended). It was a desert region, with the most interesting landmarks being tall red rock formations, sometimes in the form of arches, or towering plateaus, or winding canyons.

"More desert?" DK complained. "I mean, seriously: Akaneia; the Gerudo Desert; the Orre Region; Veldin; the Wastelands; Vigoor; and now Pandora? Why do people think living in _any_ of these places is a good idea?"

"Coming from the one who lives in a jungle," Yoshi pointed out.

DK shrugged and let that stand.

Now that they were back in Heartless territory, Samus was more careful to watch out for any signs of civilization. But Pandora was a pretty empty place, and once Sanctuary finally came into view, it was impossible to miss. Sora imagined people traveling through these parts might even mistake the town as a mirage, with absolutely nothing interesting in any direction except for a single railroad track that ran through the town from east to west.

The rusty roofs of Sanctuary stood out distinctly from the surrounding desert not because of their color, but because the steampunk metal "Wild West" town had a texture that contrasted so much against the wilds. The sun glinted off every copper door and dusty window, the red-rock mountains behind the town providing a nice backdrop, along with the narrow river that gave Sanctuary a means to exist. From this distance, however, it was hard to tell whether it was inhabited or a bona fide Ghost Town.

Samus landed behind a thick natural arch about two miles away, ensuring the shadows of the afternoon sun concealed the ship's conveniently reddish color as best it could. Of course, the gunship would be almost impossible to break into without Samus unlocking it first anyway, but it didn't hurt to take extra precautions.

In any case, only Mario, Luigi, Red, Zelda, and Sora would be venturing into town to start out, hoping they could extract the information they needed to track down Pandora's Vassal. They might be goofily dressed, but at least their human bodies would stand out a bit less than an ape, or a dinosaur, or a space warrior, or a pink blob with a face.

"Keep in contact with this," Samus said, handing Mario a small microphone, which he promptly attached to his ear. "And give us a shout at the first sign of trouble."

Mario nodded. "See you later," he said to Yoshi and the other nonhuman Smashers.

"Yoshi!" his green friend said in good confidence.

Without further ado, the five of them set out across the desert, closing the distance between them and Sanctuary. The heat of the wilderness was oppressive, reminding Sora uncomfortably—though a bit wistfully—of Agrabah. A few cacti and desert snakes and jack rabbits crossed their paths before they reached the town entrance, but nothing else.

Mario led the way into town, which, as "Wild-Western" as it looked, at least had paved streets. The sanitation wasn't great, with the smell of alcohol and tobacco reeking from saloon doors and inns and gun stores. This late in the day, the sun already starting to set, there were few people wandering the streets, and the encroaching darkness gave the Smashers the anonymity they needed to wander through Sanctuary relatively unnoticed.

But the disturbing thing about Sanctuary wasn't the hooded-eyed cowboys leaning against copper barrels, chewing tobacco and leering out at them; it wasn't the cold disinterestedness with which the few out-and-about residents regarded them. It was the muffled noises coming from inside—violent shouts and angry voices and unsettling feminine squeals and moans. They didn't have to look inside to realize what Pandora had become under the Heartless: a cesspool of riotous living, of sex and alcohol and violence beyond anything the Nintendonians had ever known.

Unfortunately, it was for that reason that one among their number attracted the attention of two rough-looking Pandorans, every bit the gritty cowboy with sci-fi-caliber pistols on their belts. They barred the heroes' path with a bow-legged stance, ogling Zelda in an extremely discomforting way.

"Now what's a lovely wench such as yerself doin' out in the evenin'?" one of them growled. His eyes flickered to the other four Smashers, and he grinned in a manner that was as far from friendly as possible. And not just because some of those teeth were gold. "You folks ain't from around these parts, are yeh?"

Sora summoned the Kingdom Key and stepped between them, narrowing his eyes. "You stay away from her."

The other Pandoran spat a wad of tobacco onto Luigi's shoe and glared at Sora. "Or else what, kid? You'll beat us with your plastic toy?"

"Let's not a-lose our heads," Luigi said, more concerned with the rising tension than with the cancer-causing product on his shoe. "We just a-need some information. Can you tell us where to find a-the Vault Hunters?"

The first Pandoran looked at him quizzically, but didn't move his hand from the gun holstered at his belt. "You strangers got a death wish or somethin'?" He smiled. "Doesn't matter. We'll tell you just where to find them…" He looked back at Zelda. "…provided you give us an amenity to make it worth our while."

Suddenly, a dark energy flared in Zelda's eyes. She raised both hands, each glowing with a purple aura, and lifted both Pandorans off the ground with an invisible force, the men clawing desperately at their choking necks.

"How's this for an amenity?" Zelda said—and the other Smashers almost didn't recognize her. "Tell us, and you'll get to live."

She just stood there, choking them for what seemed like hours, not even loosening her magical grip enough for them to utter a response.

Sora watched the princess, shocked. It was as if she had, out of nowhere, switched into a Heartless. He was painfully reminded of similar transformations that had occurred with his friend Riku, and his forerunner Terra, shortly before both had been consumed by the darkness within them.

"Zelda, stop!" he cried.

The darkness in Zelda's eyes softened, and the two Pandorans crashed onto the hard ground, coughing and hacking blood.

"The Holy…Spirits," one of them wheezed as they both clambered to their feet. "That's where you'll find them. Spare us, Siren! We had no inklin' of your power!"

She just watched as they hobbled away, disappearing down a dark alley. And then she looked down at herself—still wearing that hideous blood-red dress—and fell to her knees.

"What have I done?"

"I think I know," Red said, to everyone else's surprise. He furrowed his brow. "That magic you used…it looks the same as the kind Ganondorf had. You talked about having the full power of the Triforce inside you since…since they died. I think that was the Triforce of Power coming out."

Sora nodded. "You might not be Heartless, but there's still darkness within everyone. I've seen it before."

Zelda took a long moment to steady her breathing, then brushed herself off and rose to her feet.

"Um…will you a-be okay?" Luigi asked.

She nodded slowly. "I think so. I'm very sorry about what happened; it won't happen again. Now let's find this place they call the Holy Spirits."

They didn't have to go far, however, before a neon green glow hinted at their destination. Weaving through the buildings for about ten minutes and then following the glow, they soon stood before a hole-in-the-wall pub with the establishment's name shining across the front in a scraggly script font, a single ominous four-leaf clover gleaming above the rusty swinging doors. The activity inside was already evident from the muffled ruckus leaking out from within.

"Here's our a-stop," Mario said. They all nodded to each other, and followed Mario inside.

It was every bit as busy as the Krystal Koconut on one of its busy nights, but with a stronger stench of smoke and alcohol and sweat, and less of a fruity taste in the air. Scores of drunken men laughed raucously as they gambled and bickered among themselves, and harassed the waitresses attending to their depraved appetites.

With the entrance of the five unusual newcomers, a sudden hush fell over the bar as nearly all the patrons and bartenders paused to stare at them. The Smashers stopped in their tracks, ready for a brawl if one were to break out. Then, amazingly, after a long moment, the Pandorans seemed to lose interest and went about their business. Clearly, even just within Pandora, colorful characters were not all that unusual. It _was_ full of mystical treasure hunters and superpowered women and the occasional alien species, after all. The heroes sighed in relief at the reprieve they had been granted.

Red, as the only one who really had personal experience with the Vault Hunters, was the first to spot them in a booth near the back. He directed the rest with a pointing finger (there was too much noise to hear each other without raising their voices) and began navigating toward the far end of the shady establishment.

Roland, Lilith, and Mordecai—they were all there. And they were behaving just as recklessly as the rest, downing mugs of beer in one go, yelling incoherent insults at each other, snatching piles of cash from each other as they played some kind of dice and card game.

"I'm tellin' ya, Mordecai," Roland slurred, raising his index finger as if making some kind of profound remark. "There's gotta be another vault in the Salt Flats by the Crimson Enclave. The Mercenary wouldn't have set up Hyperion's base there if there weren't some real good riches to be found nearby. Raise." He slammed another wad of money onto the table while concealing his dice roll.

Mordecai laughed and then hiccupped. "We could get richer than Dr. Tannis's crazy Eridian stories! What's say we hitch up a couple alpacas and make it a date, yeah? Fold."

Lilith was the first to spot the approaching Smashers. As a rather temperamental Siren, even inebriated she was quick to suspect anyone she didn't recognize. She stood up and drew a pistol.

"Looks like we got a coupla eavesdroppers from Freaktown. Take another step, freaks, and you'll become more perforated than a slice of Swiss cheese."

Red raised his hands, as did the rest, showing they were unarmed—at least on the outside. Unfortunately, even though they were within ten feet of the Vault Hunters, Red knew there was far too much noise for a Time Flute to be heard, and he suspected the Holy Spirits wouldn't react well to an uncorked bottle of Aether fire.

"We mean you no harm," Red said. "We just wanted—"

"Oh, believe me, hun," Lilith cut in with a smirk, "we're not concerned about _you_ harming _us._ We're just wondering how much you're going to make _us_ have to hurt _you._ "

"Who are you clowns, anyway?" Roland slurred. "And what're you doing letting minors into a bar?" He looked pointedly at Red and Sora.

"We work for the Mercenary," Zelda said coolly. "He sent us to make you a proposition." She withdrew a shot glass which she had snatched from a table on her way over, and filled it halfway with sparkling Dream Water. "But first…care for a drink? It's the finest ale Pandora has to offer. Chateau Candié Akaneignon."

"Really?" said Mordecai, too drunk to harbor much suspicion himself. "The Mercenary _hates_ us."

"And we hate him," Roland added.

Lilith narrowed her eyes, clearly the soberest of the three. " _And_ that sounds more like a wine than an ale. You must be a special kind of stupid if you think we're going to drink something given to us by the Mercenary's goons."

There was an awkward pause; Zelda really had hoped they would accept her ruse. Then Sora made a decision for her. He stepped over, "accidentally" bumped her elbow, and caused the shot glass's contents to sprinkle all over the Vault Hunters' table, including onto their faces.

They blinked in understandable confusion, soon recognizing the Smashers for who they were. But their reunion was cut short by a scruffy man at a nearby table who had been watching them.

"Hey, fellas!" he hollered, standing up and gaining some of his fellow patrons' attention. "Those varmints just went and disrespected the Hunters. Let's get 'em!"

But apparently, someone out there disagreed, for a shot glass came flying out of nowhere and shattered against his head, knocking him off his feet.

And so the bar brawl began.

It was as spirited as its name, the pub almost instantly filled with angry shouts and flying fists and swinging chairs and the popping of guns. A pianist, who had gone almost unnoticed on the other side of the establishment, leaned forward and began pounding a rousing ragtime piece in hopes that his contribution to the chaos would be appreciated and no one would shoot him or whack his head. And to his credit, it worked.

The miraculously sobered Vault Hunters stood and drew weapons—Mordecai his short sword, Roland his shotgun, and Lilith…apparently nothing. But Red remembered what the Siren had done during the Battle for Microsoft, so he wasn't concerned about her.

There was no time to form a plan—just to fight. Mario slid between people's legs and "break-danced" several to the floor. Luigi waited patiently as an angry Pandoran ran at him with a chair raised. At the last moment, he stepped to the side and stuck his foot out demurely, tripping the man like an unstable, bipedal rhinoceros. Sora summoned his Keyblade and blocked fists and arms, sending Freeze blasts when he could. Red, though he had little direct fighting experience, was able to avoid the worst of the damage thanks to the Cooper Cane. And Zelda transformed into her alter ego, Sheik, and put her Sheikah skills to good use, spinning and kicking and leaping across heads and sticking Pandorans with ninja stars and flipping attackers onto their backs with her chain.

The Vault Hunters fought primarily with melee attacks, though the occasional gun-blazing maniac merited a bullet to the leg. They handled the Pandoran miscreants with practiced ease, having dealt with far worse things in their day.

The heroes slowly made their way toward the exit, but the provoked Pandorans continued to press from all sides, the newcomers presenting an especially popular target.

"Get down!" Lilith yelled. Because Roland and Mordecai did so immediately, the Smashers followed suit—and none too soon.

The initiation of her Phase Walk sent out a shockwave of magenta energy, which surged in a shimmering ring that shot straight over the lucky heads of those who had heeded the Siren's warning. Almost everyone in the pub was struck down, save for the pianist, who had been incredibly fortunate to have been leaning forward so much in a difficult section of his song that the shockwave had merely splintered the lid of the piano and knocked down the rather disturbing painting of a tentacley Vault monster on the wall.

There was a stunned silence, broken only by dozens of groans from the ground. Red turned to Lilith, who had ended her Phase Walk almost immediately, having no further need for its powers. Red was a bit battered and bruised, but in one piece.

"You couldn't have done that earlier?" he said.

Lilith sniffed, hands on her hips. "Didn't want to steal _all_ the fun from you boys."

They quickly proceeded out of the double doors and into the dark streets.

"Now what?" Luigi said.

Roland shrugged. "You tell us. We might be on your side again, but we don't have a clue what's going on."

"We're trying to find one of Xehanort's Vassals," Sora explained as they walked through the darkened town—now without even the slightest chance of being challenged with three Vault Hunters as their escort.

"You're looking for the Mercenary, then," Mordecai rasped. "Well, you're out on your luck, Nintendonians. Handsome Jack's set up base clear on the other side of Pandora. It'll take—"

"There he is," Roland said promptly, pointing at a pair of figures emerging from the darkness, illuminated by the town's yellow lamps.

Handsome Jack was, for lack of a better word, _classy._ He wore a black leather jacket over a brown vest, with matching slacks and shoes. His wrists were decked out with high-tech watches, though why a person might need more than one was a mystery. His face did indeed appear to have been quite handsome at some point, with his dark cowlicked hair—except for one thing: a long, thick scar curving across his face, around his nose and down through his right eye socket, which was occupied by a disturbing glass eye.

The woman next to him was, if anything, even stranger. Her skin and hair were as white as death, her eyes dark with heavy mascara. Twisting tattoos ran down one side of her neck, underneath her hunter's jacket, and down her arm like some kind of mystical blueprint. Not unlike the ones on Lilith's skin.

Handsome Jack grinned with demented pleasure.

"Well, you fellas sure know how to throw a party, don't you? Commandant Steele and I had just been coming to investigate the sighting of a strange aircraft when we caught word of the commotion going down at the Holy Spirits." He spread out his arms. "And here you are. From what the Mystic's told me, you so-called heroes are here to finish me off…am I right?"

Mario found Handsome Jack's frankness off-putting, but he clenched his fists and summoned what strength he still had after that rather wearisome bar brawl. "You've a-held Pandora under your a-thumb for too long. We're a-here to purge the people of the Heartless; and you stand in our a-way."

Steele laughed airily and shifted her weight to her other leg. "Oh, please. You Nintendonians have no idea what the real world is like out here. So comfortable in your rosy castles and island paradises…it makes me sick! Jack and I…we've made Pandora honest with itself for the first time. Not to mention Helios, and Reach, and even Rapture all the way to the northwest. That's the only kind of salvation worth achieving."

Roland gritted his teeth. "Don't pretend like you have Pandora's best interests at heart. All of you…all either of you have ever wanted was to satisfy your greed. The Heartless just gave you a convenient medium to do it with."

"Right you are, Roland." Handsome Jack winked. "But don't you see? _That's the point!_ Xehanort has shown us all that life is meant to be enjoyed; the only winners and losers are those who succeed or fail to seize what pleasures they can for themselves. People here…they've embraced their basest nature, it's true, but they've also understood that there's no real point in pursuing imaginary moral ideals. All it does is make those who try _so_ hard to achieve them… _miserable_. Miserable, because they'll never fully create that fantasy of a utopia they seek. What's left to us, then, is to make the most of the pleasures of This World…to eat, and drink, and get rich, and be merry among pleasant company, until on the morrow we die. That's all there is to life, which is unfortunate because none of you will have the chance to enjoy it much longer."

"Oh yeah?" Sora's Keyblade materialized. "Who's gonna stop us? You and what army?"  
Sora immediately regretted asking, however, for it was then that the small army of Hyperion robots came into view. They somewhat resembled yellow Super Battle Droids with oddly shaped torsos, single red "eyes" trained on their quarry along with their gun-wielding arms.

"Don't bother calling your friends," Steele added smugly. "They've got their hands full already."

Zelda drew Ryu's gleaming Dragon Sword. "Let us begin, then."

Leading the charge, Roland made directly for Handsome Jack, while Lilith zoned in on Commandant Steele. Mordecai summoned his bat-falcon, Bloodwing, and began picking off the Loaders (for that's what the robots were called) with his sniper rifle while Bloodwing dive-bombed straight into the robots with incredible agility, tearing out vital machinery while evading all the bullets aiming at him.

Mario, Luigi, Sora, Red, and Zelda, meanwhile, set upon the Loaders as they had done with the Pandorans in the bar, only this time they had to focus on the wiring in between joints or stab straight through the red "eyes" to take the foes down. Pikachu and Jigglypuff also burst from their Pokéballs and joined the fray with Thunderbolts and Rollouts. These enemies were not particularly intelligent, but there were many of them, and combatting a solid wall of steel soldiers would quickly wear the heroes out.

Handsome Jack fired a pair of wrist rockets from his watches, nearly blowing Roland's body apart as the Vault Hunter juked out the way and took a rather wild running shot with his shotgun, which missed, but was merely the prelude to his winding punch that he landed straight to the Vassal's chin.

Jack stumbled back and faced Roland again, grinning through the blood dripping down his jaw. He twisted a dial on one of his watches, causing his image to shimmer and then duplicate himself six times, so that Roland was surrounded by a septet of creepily smiling Jacks.

"You should know, Roland," they all seemed to say at once, pacing around him in a dizzying spiral, none of them appearing any less real than the rest. "In the history of Pandora the Lord of Games erased by destroying the Crimson Lance, you died by my hand. It's really a pity that sometimes the Hand of Fate insists on making things happen, one way or another."

An energy bolt that seemed to come from every direction streamed from the Handsome Jacks' watches and into Roland's body, eliciting a bellow of pain. He fell to his knees, struggling to stay up, but held down by the crippling energy.

Lilith initiated her Phase Walk once more, shifting into her Siren powers without a shockwave this time because she had already done so recently. But her body did become a matrix of flickering purple-white energy, then faded to a near-invisible blur as she came at Commandant Steele with a yell.

Steele, however, was prepared with a nasty surprise. She smiled and channeled her own Siren powers into an attack none of the Vault Hunters had ever seen: Phase Strike. She generated a halberd made of the same unstable magenta energy, and used the flat side of the axe to whack Lilith's almost invisible form to the ground.

Lilith staggered back up, gasping. "How did you…?"

"What?" Steele glanced mockingly at her halberd. "Oh, this? A nice touch of magic, courtesy of Xehanort, that unlocked my true potential as a Siren. We Sirens feed off the strength of Eridium…but when combined with even a small piece of Kingdom Hearts, I'm unstoppable!"

Lilith tried to catch her by surprise with a sweeping kick, but Steele, who could see Lilith perfectly well in spite of her Phase Walk, ducked underneath Lilith's leg and brought her halberd up in a savage swipe, cleaving Lilith's other leg clean off at the knee. Her victim screamed and toppled to the ground, the Eridium within her enough to staunch the blood flow, but leaving her drained and feeble and powerless.

Steele raised her halberd for her final strike and laughed. "End of the line, Hunter."

She brought it down—only for it to clash with a green-glowing blade.

"What?" She narrowed her eyes and followed the blade up to its wielder: Zelda.

Zelda pushed back against Steele's Phase Strike halberd and brandished the Dragon Sword, the look in her eye revealing a fundamental theme of her life: power through adversity.

"Evil will not protect you in any timeline," she said, "Memory Paradox or not."

* * *

Sora gasped as he backed away in an attempt to locate his target through the clashing bodies. He struck down a Loader with Thunder magic, giving himself enough space to see the duplicate Handsome Jacks take down Roland. By the time he got over there to help, it would be too late…

Something odd caught his eye—and that of many of those locked in combat. Rolling down the street toward the battle was a strangely purposeful tumbleweed. As it approached, it bounced off the heads of Pandorans who were coming out to join the fight on Handsome Jack's side. Then it suddenly sprouted a face, and Kirby discarded his disguise in favor of a different target. As he passed over the head of a Pandoran whose pistol was pointed at him, he sucked the weapon out of the man's hand and swallowed it, and twirled and donned his newest Copy Ability.

He wore a cowboy hat and a bandanna over his mouth, and in each arm stub he wielded a tiny pistol. He was Cowboy Kirby.

"Draw!"

The newcomer, with almost comical pops, downed a dozen Pandorans before he even reached the main conflict, then let loose upon the Loaders. He swung a lasso over his head and tossed its wide loop right over the entire ring of Handsome Jacks, severing the duplicates into nothingness and tightening the rope around the original Jack, effectively cutting short Roland's painful execution.

Before Handsome Jack could react, Cowboy Kirby pulled himself up the rope and landed a series of kicks into the Vassal's face. He grabbed Jack by the front of the vest, tossed him into the air, peppered his back with several quick shots, then jumped up as Jack fell and transformed into an extremely dense cow pie, pinning him to the ground.

Sora and many of the surrounding combatants stared in astonishment at the puffball's display, though Roland was still too weak to stand, down on his hands and knees. While Pikachu and Mordecai took down many of the approaching Loaders and protected their vulnerable friend, Sora wasted no time running over to where the Kirby cow pie had Handsome Jack flattened, a look of shock on the Hyperion leader's face. Sora raised his Keyblade.

"Handsome Jack," he said, "you have failed this kingdom."

* * *

At the same time the Pandoran Vassal was struck down, Zelda overpowered Steele and plunged the Dragon Sword into the Siren's heart, such power surging through the princess's body that she could hardly tell the difference between what came from the Triforce and what came from the mighty Hayabusa artifact. She let Steele slide back off her blade and fall to the ground and watched in satisfaction as the remaining Loaders were somehow decommissioned upon their leaders' defeat, becoming as inert as the robot models back in Wily Fortress. The remaining Pandorans were now even more confused since their uninhibited appetites and lusts were no longer exacerbated by the Heartless' influence.

A strange quiet had fallen upon the streets of Sanctuary—broken only by a shrill cry from Bloodwing. A cry of victory. A cry of blood.

* * *

Four hours later, the Smashers were gathered with Mordecai in the sheriff's station—Samus, Yoshi, and DK included. With Lilith and Roland in critical condition, Mordecai was the only Vault Hunter left to help them decide their next move.

"You guys might've had it bad up here," DK said, shaking his head, "but that _thing_ Handsome Jack unleashed on us…that was something else."

"Jack's monster would have destroyed a lot more than my ship if Sora hadn't used that Keyblade of his in time," Samus said. Still, even in her expression of gratitude one could sense some lingering bitterness that her precious gunship had been completely wrecked by the magma-powered beast.

Mordecai nodded solemnly. "The Warrior, as it is called, is a Vault monster—an Eridian superweapon that must've come under Handsome Jack's control as a favor from Xehanort. _All_ of us are lucky to be alive." Bloodwing shrieked from his shoulder as if in agreement.

"The question is," Samus said, "what do we do now? We've got no ship. I guess we could take a portal to Helios or Reach or even Rapture and get a helping hand."

"Yes, we a-could," Mario said, looking thoughtful.

Luigi glanced at his brother curiously. "Bro? You have another idea?"

Mario hesitated a moment before speaking, unsure how his proposal would be received. "We've gotten this a-far because the Vassals have underestimated us. But I'm a-worried that the more of Organization XIII we a-find, the more prepared they will a-be to meet us."

Sora nodded. "So you think we should act as quickly as we can to take the one in the Enchanted Kingdom by storm."

Zelda turned to Mordecai. "Professor Gadd's portals…can they also take us to the Elfin Palace? That's where we will be most likely to find their Vassal."

"They sure can," Mordecai said, chuckling as if this had been the direction he'd hoped the conversation would go all along. "Let me tell you somethin', Smashers…most of your worlds may not be as sophisticated or philosophically complex as ours in Microsoft. But the guts you showed out there today, and back in the Copyright Wars…It's no wonder Xehanort was so keen on keeping you apart. So if you ask me, I'd say you might as well take down two Vassals in one go. That way, you'll have plenty of breathing space to gear up in Microsoft for whatever comes next."

Those who had any misgivings on proceeding directly to the Enchanted Kingdom (namely, Yoshi and Luigi) now felt bolstered enough to agree with the plan. And since none of the Smashers had been seriously injured, and it was still the dead of night, now seemed as good a time to leave as any.

Without further ado, they proceeded to the well outside of town beside which Gadd's portal had been set up. Mario and Samus took a few minutes to boot it up, until the purple aluminum foil-like gateway was ready to receive them. Until now they hadn't dared venture through these portals into regions under the Heartless' control, but it seemed the best option if they were going to catch the next Vassal unawares.

After Yoshi very politely declined Mordecai's offer of his sniper rifle, the Smashers prepared to depart. Mordecai waved them off, Bloodwing flapping her leathery wings in a similarly friendly gesture. Kirby beamed and waved back at the bird before he hopped into the portal behind the rest.

* * *

The Elfin Palace seemed to have undergone a rather more literal darkening. Even in the black of night, the bright magical aura of the castle that Samus, Yoshi, and Zelda remembered had been replaced with a toxic green, which in fact had become the color scheme for the entire building and the moat and grounds. It was as if a soul-sucking parasite had infected the entire kingdom, or as if the late Troll King Thorn had redesigned the landscape to accommodate his perpetually foul moods. Not to mention the scaly texture of the walls that had replaced the smooth cream cheese feel from the past.

The one fortunate thing was that there appeared to be no one guarding the portal they'd come through. It had brought them into shriveled gardens of pale purple flowers and thorny vines and choking thistles and menacing pumpkins (though that last one might have been more of a cultural thing than an actually malevolent design choice). In fact, as the group cautiously rounded the corners and glanced up at the burgundy parapets and out at the morose grasslands and forests beyond the hill upon which the palace sat, not a single living thing barred their way. Not even when they reached the enormous, silver-gilded front doors, one of which was left ajar with warm yellow light leaking out from the palace within. The Smashers hesitated before the open door.

"Well, this isn't suspicious," DK said. "Are we really gonna just walk into this place and hope it's not a death trap?"

"It worked in Megaland," Red pointed out.

"Yeah…but that's because I came to save your butts with Rayman's Plunger Gun."

Before they could argue further, Kirby had already waddled forward and slipped through the opening, like Hansel wandering into the blind witch's candy house.

"That answers that question," Samus said, and she and the rest followed the Star Warrior inside.

Whatever the Smashers had been expecting, it wasn't what they found. The entrance hall was indeed brightly lit, though the purple and dark green themes curled their corrosive tendrils across the previously cheerful rug designs and wall engravings and marble staircases. Even the chandeliers radiated a sickly olive tone that almost made them feel as if they were in a deep-sea cavern, as if a Heartless Jack Wynand had had a say in the palace's renovation as well.

But what caught them off guard was the solitary, hunched hooded figure awaiting them in the center of the entrance hall. None of them had any clue who this Vassal was or what he or she were supposed to look like, so to them, the Mystic's old reptilian features and disconcerting Crystal Eye was as alien as the Starmen from outer space.

"I've been expecting you, Sora," she croaked, her reptilian expression fathomless.

Sora drew his Keyblade, just as the Smashers drew their weapons. "Who are you?"

"I am the Mystic, Xehanort's trusted Vassal," she said plainly. "And before you ask, yes, I do oversee the remaining territories of Microsoft—the Enchanted Kingdom; the Willow Woods; the newly rebuilt, fledgling Carrington Institute…as well as the RareWare Islands across the sea. And no, Smashers, I have not brought you here to kill you, or give you up to Master Xehanort." Her Crystal eye glinted. "Not any of _you_ , anyways."

"We don't care what you want," DK said, feeling a strange connection to this kindred RareWare being. He raised his Coconut Gun. "It's time for you to take your stupid Heartless and—"

"You will not fire that gun, Donkey Kong," the Mystic interrupted abruptly.

"Oh, no?" DK prepared to fire. "And what makes you think I won't?"

Two figures emerged from the stairs above and leapt onto the ground level. One was Kameo, clutching the fabled Wotnot Book in hand, her elfin features creased with the strains of queenship and drained of the mercy and levity she had once exuded. And the other…

"Ness?"

Before DK could react, the psychic boy cast a powerful, sweeping PK Paralysis which froze all the Smashers in place, bordered by bright green energy. He caused Sora to float forward alone until the boy hovered helplessly before the Mystic.

The Mystic did not laugh or gloat. She merely shook her head slowly, as if disappointed. "You Nintendonians have no concept of true time, nor of true justice. I was born to a race doomed to extinction thanks to the Elves and Trolls…until Xehanort offered my kind salvation, the chance to enslave our onetime slave drivers. Justice is not just making people get what they deserve; it is ensuring the inevitable future is consistent with the events which transpire beforehand. From your limited, mortal perspectives, you cannot see the grand scheme of things that I have Seen. Did you really think I wouldn't know about the Lurker and the Mercenary—that you could sneak up on one who beholds past, present, and future?"

"We'll…stop…you!" Sora said through gritted teeth.

The Mystic stared at him blankly. "You and your Kingdom Key are the only reason the Smashers have come this far. Once that link has broken…everything else will fall apart. I have foreseen it."

She didn't utter another word, but turned and nodded to Ness. The boy, who with his dead, sullen expression looked about as childlike as Obaba, walked over, touched both the Mystic and Sora, and PK Teleported them all out of sight.

"No!" Yoshi yelled as they were released from the PK Paralysis and regained control of their bodies. But they had no time to wonder where their friends had gone; Kameo had been joined by a horde of Heartless, and as she recited a foreign incantation from the Wotnot Book, she called upon the Elements of Power and transformed into the Elemental Warrior known as Major Ruin. It was an armadillo creature with a shell of solid rock studded with dagger-like spikes. And without mincing words, it curled into a ball and Boulder-Rushed toward the heroes.

Mario had to act fast, and this time he was up to the task. He turned to Zelda and gestured toward the approaching Heartless.

"You a-know what to do."

As DK took the brunt of Major Ruin's rolling attack, Zelda drew out the last bottle of Dream Water, split its contents with Red, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff, and together they met the Heartless in combat, temporarily immune to the creatures' corrupting residue. Mario, meanwhile, helped DK up as Major Ruin chased after Samus, whose Morph Ball form taunted it with small bombs left in its wake as it rolled around the armadillo and then up the grand staircase.

Yoshi turned to Luigi. "You know what to do."

"No I don't," Luigi said.

Yoshi sighed and turned to Kirby. "We don't have time for this. Suck it out of his pants for me, will ya?"

"Wha?" Luigi looked horrified.

Three seconds later, Kirby handed the bottle of Aether fire to Yoshi, who ingested it while the green plumber shivered uncomfortably, feeling violated and secretly wedgied.

Yoshi turned the flames over in his mouth and began following Samus and Major Ruin with his head, waiting for the right moment.

The Elemental Warrior apparently grew tired of the chase, for it accelerated into a Cyclone Spin, now bouncing off the walls, crushing Elf statues and paintings and even Heartless in its efforts to smash Samus. Finally, it achieved its goal, sending Samus and her Power Suit into the wall behind them. Major Ruin paused and peeked its head out, grinning at its next victims: Yoshi, Luigi, and Kirby.

The Aether burst caught it full in the face, and soon it had transformed back into Kameo, even as Zelda, Red, and the Pokémon finished off the last of the Heartless horde. The black Heartless dust was chased away by the brightness of Spyro's blessed flames.

"Ugh…" Kameo lay on the ground, the Wotnot Book open a few feet away from her, her black hair disheveled. She raised her head to view her attackers/rescuers. "Care to explain what's going on here, friends?"

Mario offered a hand and pulled her to her feet, while Zelda attended to DK's and Samus's injuries. "The good news is you're a-back to normal." He turned to stare at the spot on the carpet where the Mystic had vanished with Sora and Ness.

"The bad news…is we've a-lost our key to victory."


	23. Chapter 18: Your Broken Future (1)

" _This is a buffet of broken dreams…and now, we feast!"_

 _ **~Wizpig**_

* * *

Chapter 18: Your Broken Future

* * *

 **Castle Oblivion**

* * *

 ** _C_** yber K. Rool clomped into Xehanort's throne room, his enormous red cybernetic eye shining like scarlet blood in the white chamber. He inclined his mostly robotic head, steam blowing out of his single living nostril, and spoke in Professor U. Reeka's rather high voice. (The damage retained by the falling anchor in the Krystal Koconut had altered the Vassal's deep voice, but Reeka's consciousness had deemed it unworthy of fixing.)

"I've returned from the errand you sent me to investigate, Master Xehanort."

Xehanort's topaz eyes flickered with heat. "And?"

"It is as you suspected: The goddess has wavered in her fealty to you. In spite of the Heartless, it seems the divinity within her made her will unusually strong—not enough to prevent the worst in her from arising, but sufficient to put her own personal pride above loyalty. A most interesting phenomenon."

Xehanort drummed his fingers on the arms of his throne for a moment, then abruptly stood.

"We must pay her a visit, then," he said. "The Smash Brothers have been cheating…and it's time we root out the source of their illicit information."

K. Rool giggled—a sound not at all befitting a creature of his size, and his mouth remaining motionless throughout didn't make it seem any more natural. "At last, some excitement."

Xehanort smirked. "You say excitement, professor; but the more appropriate word would be…judgment."

* * *

 **? ? ? ? ? ? ?**

* * *

Sora woke with a groan. Ness's PSI magic had done more than paralyze and teleport him. It had shaken his brain like a baby rattle in the hands of an orangutan. His blurred vision sharpened until he could see where he was.

His first impression was that of a golden dentist's office—albeit one whose chair featured arm and leg straps that rendered him helpless. There was something about this place…something that reeked of ancient magic, like the historic ramparts of Disney Castle. He had a feeling that he wasn't here for a root canal.

A shadow appeared on the opposite wall, then emerged to become the full figure of the Mystic. The room's golden surfaces, lit by some kind of innate glitter Sora couldn't explain, sparkled off the Sargothan's Crystal Eye.

"If you're gonna kill me, then just get it over with," Sora said.

The Mystic's brow raised. "I will…but not just yet, little Keyblade Wielder." She placed a scaly hand on Sora's chest, feeling his heartbeat. The boy struggled, but could do nothing.

"There is something I want from you first. Something inside you that may require some digging. Your heart…its magic…holds tremendous potential. To create. To destroy. I would have it for myself, so that I might…shall we say… _alter_ the Smash Universe's fate. Serving as Xehanort's Vassal has been a remarkable experience…but I am destined for higher things."

Sora let out a spiteful laugh. "You try and cross Xehanort, and he'll destroy you. Just like he did Ganondorf. Just like he did to all of Disney. Your darkened heart'll never be strong enough to overpower him, because his heart will always be darker."

The Mystic nodded slowly. "This I know. And that is why you shall remain my _living_ guest…for a time. For now, I have someone who is eager to meet you—a shaman who has agreed to help me find the key to extracting your heart's magic."

A skeletal face appeared from behind Sora and came around to gawk at him, skull-tipped wand in hand.

"Mumbo be happy to help."

Mumbo Jumbo began waving his wand, and tendrils of green magic began to swirl around the dentist's chair, and Sora began to scream.

* * *

 **Elfin Palace**

 **Enchanted Kingdom**

* * *

"So what you're saying," DK clarified as he and the Smashers were gathered around Kameo in the entrance hall, "is everyone in the RareWare regions can move across each other's borders even under the Heartless?"

"Yes," Kameo said, a palm resting contemplatively on the Wotnot Book. As if it were the ultimate source of her strength, her hope. "RareWare's unusual history seems to have had that side effect. Of course, Xehanort made sure almost no one knew this. But I, as the Mystic's chief law enforcer, often travelled between worlds to quelch whatever conflicts disturbed the order."

"Which a-means if we can get the rest of RareWare on our side," Mario said, "they can rise against a-the Mystic and help us overthrow her."

"But do we have time?" Red said anxiously. "I mean…she's got Sora. She could kill him or give him up to Xehanort at any time."

At that, Kameo actually smiled. "Fortunately, I know the Mystic. She acted as an ally—a trusted advisor to the royal line—for many years. By the time we discovered her treachery…" Her expression sobered. "It was too late for my parents. She poisoned them by degrees, then once they were gone and the Heartless had come, set me up as a figurehead to establish order—with herself as the grand puppeteer. Even before all that, she once turned my sister and I against each other, and even instigated the Troll War to get revenge on the Elves—and also to try and get her claws on the power of the Wotnot Book."

"So…she left the book with you?" DK scratched his head.

"That confused me too. But then I realized the only reason she'd be willing to part with the power of the Wotnot Book…is if she found an even greater power."

"Sora," Zelda said.

Kameo nodded. "She won't waste a life that still has power she can extract from it. And she'll feel confident enough with her Crystal Eye's foresight to take all the time she needs."

"Yeah, that a-fortunetelling thing," Luigi said. "That's a problem."

"Also," DK said, "if the Mystic's her Organization XIII nickname, what's her real name?"

"She's just the Mystic," Kameo said, rolling her eyes. "And that's why we'll need all the help we can get, Luigi; she can see the future. I don't know what you Smashers have faced already…but she's different. There's a reason Xehanort designated her the head Vassal over all of Smash Planet outside Nintendo."

They began to hear stirrings from deeper within the palace.

"We should go, then," Samus said. "You know, before we have to fight a bunch of Dark Elves."

Kameo didn't appreciate the wordplay. "You're right. This is what we must do: Some of us should go to the Willow Woods to find Berri and her squirrel soldiers; and the others will retrieve Joanna Dark from the Carrington Institute. We'll meet at Conker's old home and go from there."

"You all do those things," Samus said as they hurried back toward the garden portal. "I'm going to run an errand on my own. We'll keep in contact."

They reached the portal. Shouts were beginning to sound from the palace doors. They were being followed. Mario addressed the Smashers together.

"Kameo, you a-go with Yoshi, Red, and a-Kirby. Luigi, DK, Zelda—you're with a-me."

Without further argument, they jumped inside, leaving the Elfin guards baffled by the intruders' sudden disappearance.

* * *

"Freeze, punks!"

Mario, Luigi, DK, and Zelda found themselves in a bright, wooded glade—immediately surrounded by an army of militant squirrels. At their head was Berri—a short, anthropomorphic gray squirrel with army camo and a machine gun pointed right at them.

Luigi gulped. He hadn't considered until now the fact that between the Heart Softeners that had been used, lost, or destroyed, they were almost out of them. The Dream Water was gone; he thought Red might still have one bottle of Aether fire left; and there were maybe three or four Time Flutes left among the rest of the Smashers. He could see one of them sticking out of the fabric on the back of DK's necktie. But it was hard to play a flute when you were being held at gunpoint.

"We're a-here to help you," Mario tried.

The squirrels chittered—a nasty, deadly chitter. As if Snow White's forest critters had gone full-on Chicago mafia. Berri stepped up to Mario and narrowed her eyes.

"Say…don't I know you punks from somewhere?"

"Yeah," Luigi said. "We're, uh…here from Nintendo to recruit for Xehanort's Junior a-Vassals?"

A bulky red squirrel cocked his shotgun. "My granny's a better liar than you, Mustache. Tell us why you're really here or we'll send you back to Xehanort in a bag of fertilizer."

"Wait, Berri," Zelda said, holding up a small pile of something in her hands. "If you don't believe us, accept this gift. These nuts come from the far-off land of Hyrule, from which Xehanort sent us. They are unequaled by anything outside of their native Nintendonian woods."

With one simultaneous twitch, all the squirrels' noses perked at the sight and scent of the nuts. Many of them even lowered their weapons, instinctively interested in such exotic morsels.

Even Berri was rather distracted. "You…you didn't poison them or anything, did you?"

"They're nuts, Buckteeth," DK said bluntly. "How would we poison a nut?"

Despite the Kong's somewhat questionable logic, Berri's fixation on the nuts diminished her discernment, and she scurried over to Zelda and grabbed the entire pile of nuts.

"Hey," the large red squirrel said indignantly. "Don't hog them all to yourself, Berri!"

A frantic commotion among the squirrels ensued as they all crowded around Berri and tried to claim their own shares of the dark brown morsels, the Smashers retreating from the squabble. Until, inevitably, one of the nuts was dropped and fell to the ground with a loud snap.

The Deku Nut stunned the entire squirrel squad, allowing DK the opportunity he needed to pull out his Time Flute and blow into its holes. Still, even his harsh air stream produced the beautiful, mystic melody from the flute, and one flurry of golden sparks later, the glade was filled with purged rodents.

Berri employed a series of swear words one would never have expected to come from the mouth of such an adorable creature, reminding DK uncomfortably of Conker. Then again, at least she hadn't shot him with her machine gun like she'd promised.

"Nice a-one," Mario said to Zelda, who just smiled.

"Sometimes you don't need magic," she said. "Just the right materials."

* * *

The restored Carrington Institute was a group of large yellow buildings with slanted roofs, giving the vague impression of a college campus/government facility hybrid. Among Red, Kirby, Kameo, and Yoshi, only the latter two had seen the place before.

"So how have the Heartless affected this place?" Red asked Kameo as they looked out at the buildings from beside the large pine tree whose trunk had housed the portal.

"Even before the Heartless, the Institute liked having its secrets," Kameo said. "Since then, they've just taken their secret-keeping to the next level—not only hiding alien organisms and technologies, but now conducting all kinds of perverse experiments underground on both alien species, the Maians and the Skedar. Elvis, Joanna's Maian friend, headed out into space to do who-knows-what. The Heartless drove him insane, apparently."

"So how do we find Joanna?" Yoshi said. "We'll probably have to sneak past some high-tech security and fight a bunch of secret agents armed with alien technology to get to her, huh?"

Kirby had stepped forward, stared down the institute like a formidable piece of strawberry shortcake, and began sucking.

The others, who had learned by now not to question anything Kirby did (in spite of the unfortunate result of his curiosity in the Elfin Palace), watched as nothing happened for a few seconds. Then, however, one of the windows on the upper level of the nearest structure shattered as a figure was pulled out of it and drawn rapidly toward the four heroes. Joanna Dark, sniper rifle still in hand, tumbled straight into Kirby's mouth before being spat onto the ground.

Before the professional spy could do anything, Yoshi drew a Time Flute and played away, and within a few moments, Joanna Dark was no longer intent on assassinating them.

She leaned down with hands on her knees, still panting from her brief trauma in relation to Kirby's mouth. But in spite of her annoyed look, a grateful grin broke out.

"You Smashers've done it again. I take it you want my help to get to the Mystic?"

Kameo nodded. "I think we've both got a bone to pick with that fortunetelling salamander."

In answer, Joanna cocked her sniper rifle, raised it, and picked off a bird in the sky for no reason, her body practically radiating enmity.

"Damn right."

* * *

 **Willow Woods**

* * *

The Smash Brothers and RareWare recruits convened outside Conker's old home. It was a simple wooden cabin comparable to Banjo & Kazooie's humble abode, located in the middle of a grassy, wooded meadow in an almost suspiciously bright and sunny setting.

But Berri, her squirrel soldiers, and Joanna Dark weren't the only Microsians participating in the meeting. Even though they couldn't come into the Willow Woods physically, several screens (provided by Joanna) had been set up displaying the faces (or helmets) of Marcus Fenix, Ryu Hayabusa, Mordecai, Captain John Shepard, MechWarrior (from Helios), Jack Wynand (from Rapture), and the Master Chief. Samus had gone to visit Master Chief personally to get him and the rest of the Microsian Sentinels on board. And in a small pond at the center of their gathering, Pit's projected image regarded his Reflection Pool map with a bit of exasperation.

"Sorry, guys," he said. "Looks like the Mystic absconded with Sora all the way to the Isle o' Hags. So you'll have to head overseas in order to end this."

"It's a-fine," Mario said. But for some reason, something about Pit's demeanor seemed off. "Is everything a-good over there?"

"Uh…don't worry about it," Pit said dismissively. "Lady Palutena wants to meet with me; I think the King of the West might be coming to visit or something. Nothing we can't handle. But I gotta go, before she gets angry again. Just remember—there _should_ be a Heart Softener somewhere on the island. Find it, stop the Mystic, get Sora back, and save the world." He laughed. "See ya later!"

They waved to Pit as his image faded, leaving a view of several bamboozled goldfish drifting under the clear water.

"I'm not going to lie, Smashers," Master Chief said. "I rather hoped something like this would happen. If our target had been hidden away somewhere in the Enchanted Kingdom, only those who are part of RareWare would be able to aid in your rescue effort. But if she's on one of the islands, I'll be able to take you over myself."

"But…aren't you restricted to Reach?" Yoshi asked.

"I am restricted to my native territory, like everyone else. But in case you've forgotten, for the Spartans, that territory extends into outer space as well, so we'll most certainly be able to accompany you at least to the coast of the island. And if it's an open battlefield, we'll cover you from the skies." He glanced at the other screen displays with Sentinels on them. "Unfortunately, most of the rest of you are unlikely to have that freedom."

"But we Rapturians do," Jack Wynand said. "We'll accompany you from the sea in case of an amphibious assault."

"We'll bring the _Normandy_ as well," Commander Shepard added. "The stars and skies are as much our home as Eden Prime itself."

"It's settled, then," Joanna said. She looked at the other Sentinels. "The rest of you, focus on rebuilding your own regions; we never know when Xehanort might try something, even with our worlds purged of the Heartless. The Smash Brothers have come a long way for the chance to free us all. Now let's give them that chance."

* * *

Samus sat beside Master Chief in the cockpit of his gunship, watching the oceans north of Microsoft scroll below them. The last time she had been in such a vessel, it had been in an effort to get as far away from the Chief as possible. Now, they were heading into battle together. How far they had come!

With several other Spartan gunships flying beside them, the rocket ship-like _Normandy_ bringing up the rear, and a school of submerged Bathyspheres accompanying them below (all of which were made invisible using Joanna's Cloaking Devices, save for Master Chief's vessel), Samus felt almost invincible.

"I understand Xehanort had you stationed on Shadow Moses Island with Solid Snake," Master Chief said, his expression hidden behind his amber visor—though it lacked the ominous stringency it had once carried. "How are the two of you, um, doing?"

Samus was amused, and felt only slightly invaded. For some reason, after all they had been through, Master Chief was someone she felt she could confide in. She trusted him because she had known him at his worst, and she had seen him confront that part of himself and conquer it. She was glad she hadn't had to see that particular darkness resurface, which had almost certainly been the case under the Heartless.

"We were together. But nothing can be normal…or natural…until this is all over."

Master Chief nodded, deciding that was a safe place to stop prying. Neither he nor Samus minded the silence of the gunship's steady hum. It reminded them both of home.

As the small fleet flew on, at first they had felt tense in anticipation of any traps the Mystic might have left for them. They couldn't presume to have any advantage of surprise over a villain who could read the future. But at least for the rest of that day, nothing attacked them.

At nightfall, Samus actually fell asleep in her seat, while Master Chief's enhanced Spartan body stayed alert without much effort. He suspected many of the Smashers and squirrel soldiers in the gunships' cargo holds, and the crew of the _Normandy_ , had done the same. Good. They needed all the rest they could get if the Mystic was as powerful as he'd heard.

An electric blue glow began to radiate from beside him, and suddenly, standing between him and the copilots' seats was a personage he never thought he'd see again. His mind raced faster than it had under any of the brain-boosting chemicals he'd been administered as a human super soldier.

"…Cortana?"

The beautiful, holographic woman smiled at him wryly, such unfathomable depths of galactic knowledge hidden in her eyes. Her holographic body shimmered ever so slightly, like a pleasant dream one had to cling onto to keep it from slipping away from memory forever.

"Hello, John."

No one ever addressed him by his birth name. No one except her. And it disarmed him even further.

"How…how are you…?"

"I'm not really back, if that's what you're asking," she said. "Even artificial intelligences like me don't just come back to life. When the Lord of Games destroyed me…that was the end. But I _am_ here to tell you something important."

Master Chief just waited, at a loss for words.

"You have nothing to prove, John. They don't see you for your past mistakes. They see you for who you are now."

"Who I am now," the Chief said finally, "will always be connected to who I was. To the things I did. The innocent people I killed. The worst part is…just when I thought I had buried that all behind me, Xehanort came and dug it back up. And for the past three years, I've been every bit the tyrant I was during the Copyright Wars. Others might not see that…but it's something I can never forget. Or forgive."

"You forgave me," Cortana said. "When the Rampancy turned me into a killer, when I thought I could achieve peace through fear. And that made all the difference; you could have fought me, beaten me down, but that would only have convinced me more of my skewed logic. By giving me a second chance…you gave me the courage to do what I had to do to save the colony on Reach from the Covenant and the Flood."

Master Chief was silent again, though he felt a warm peace spread through his chest. Was this really happening?

"You'll find the Mystic in Cloud Cuckoo Land," she said abruptly. "But you mustn't go there directly. Go to Hailfire Peaks first, and then you'll have what you need to succeed."

"What? Why…" But his voice trailed away. Suddenly, Cortana was gone.

He sat there for a long moment, Cortana's words burned in his mind. Then, shaking himself out of his reverie, he switched on his communicator.

"Good news, soldiers. We have our heading."

* * *

They continued their voyage during the following two days. Master Chief had informed the Smashers of their updated directions, though only Samus truly understood what Cortana meant to him and why he would trust her ghostly apparition.

They passed time playing Red's card games (the Willow Woods squirrels were particularly savage players); eating Vigoorian delicacies (the Spartan military rations were rather repulsive to the taste); sleeping; and conversing.

"So if you're really that good of a racer among the Timber's Island crew, Buckteeth," DK said, not entirely without smugness, "then why didn't you make your way into the Smash Planet Grand Prix like Dixie?"

Berri's face turned slightly red. She narrowed her eyes. "Hey; I've only got time for part-time racing. I have the Willow Woods to look after. Dixie Kong joined the roster with an even fuller commitment than Diddy before her. I'd like to see you do better, Hairy."

DK looked offended. "I'm actually pretty good on the track. Aren't I, Jumpman?"

Mario, caught off-guard, mumbled something incoherent and vaguely positive about having a high top speed. Luigi and Yoshi, who had also seen DK's somewhat less than outstanding racing, did the same.

* * *

On the morning of the third day, the Isle o' Hags finally came into view on the horizon.

Master Chief, Mario, Berri, and others discussed their strategy. Since Hailfire Peaks was on the east side of the large island, the non-RareWare Microsians would await the Smashers' return just offshore. Once they had obtained whatever help Cortana had alluded to, they would head up to Cloud Cuckoo Land together.

They rounded the southern edge of the island, which was large enough that even as they drew near, the far shore couldn't be seen. They beheld the homely stone buildings of Jolly Roger's Lagoon to the west, and then Treasure Trove Cove's beaches and sandy slopes at the nearest southern shore, where the WarioWare Ark had once made port. After that was a coastal region none of them had frequented: Rusty Bucket Bay, a long stretch of corroded metal docks with several rusted steamers bathing in a bay of greasy black oil.

Finally, above a sea of trees rose the twin mountaintops known as Hailfire Peaks. It was a complete geographical impossibility: a dark, lava-veined volcano less than two miles away from a snowy mountain, the two peaks mirror images of each other in every way except for the lava moat and ashen rock of one and the rolling snowdrifts and turquoise ice covering the other. It was hard to imagine the sudden temperature change that would occur when passing from one side to the other over the implausibly abrupt border—stepping over snow and onto brimstone.

"Any idea where to drop you Smashers off?" Master Chief asked, now with Mario and DK joining him and Samus in the spacious cockpit.

DK leaned forward and squinted, then pointed down near the base of the fiery side. "Is that a…wigwam?"

Sure enough, a beige canvas cone, held up by a teepee of tall sticks and patterned with orange triangles and red stripes, stood out against the dark rock, situated at the end of a series of stepping stones in the middle of a small lava lake. The fragile structure was inexplicably not on fire amidst what was surely an extremely hot climate.

Several of the Smashers recognized this as Wumba's Wigwam, the mobile abode of one Humba Wumba. Humba had been left the sole shaman of the Isle o' Hags after Mumbo Jumbo had been killed by Gruntilda the Witch during the Second Copyright Wars. Her magical prowess was renowned.

"That's Humba's place," DK said. "Let us down as close as you can, but be careful; who knows what kind of madness the Heartless instilled in her…"

"I have a better idea," Samus said, making an adjustment to her arm cannon. "Megaman prepared my suit for just such a situation. Let me go first."

"You'd a-better hurry," Mario said, pointing out the windshield. Not only was there a golden glow coming from the wigwam's entrance, but a certain bear and bird had just walked out and spotted them. Mario had no clue how the Heartless had impacted Banjo & Kazooie, but he would rather not find out.

Seconds later, the island natives were sending a steady stream of Grenade Eggs their way, already airborne and pumping through the steaming air toward the Microsian intruders.

"I told you we should've cloaked this gunship too," DK said.

"I heard that, Kong," Joanna Dark's voice came over the gunship's speakers. "Here's the problem with your plan: If we're all invisible, no one would know who to follow, would they?"

"Uh…good point."

Two things happened. First, Yoshi, who had been watching out the side of the gunship, took it upon himself to slide open the door and climb onto the roof. He crawled forward until he was actually on the nose of the windshield, the cockpit's occupants watching him in bewilderment. And then, with one expert lick, he drew every last one of the Grenade Eggs into his mouth and spit them back out so that they exploded harmlessly against the edge of the glacial ice side.

Samus, too, ejected herself from the gunship, only she pointed her Power Suit straight ahead, plunging toward Banjo & Kazooie with her arm cannon outstretched. The Breegull would have Beak-Bombed even her durable alienware to pieces had the bounty hunter not activated Megaman's upgraded flamethrower.

Instead of typical orange flames, the arm cannon ejected a powerful stream of white Aether fire, which constituted the last of the Smashers' supply, but was well spent in avoiding a catastrophe with the heart-darkened heroes.

And she didn't stop there. Landing in a perfect Morph Ball roll, she descended straight into Wumba's Wigwam and blasted the rest of the Aether fire, purging its remaining resident.

Banjo & Kazooie almost dropped out of the sky in shock at their suddenly opened hearts, then after a few shouted words with Mario, they converged on the teepee while the gunship hovered low enough for the other Smashers to disembark. Master Chief nodded to them and pulled away with his fellow Spartans and the _Normandy_ , ready for them to communicate via radio when they were ready to leave.

* * *

"Normally I would say that's all a hunkin' load of crap," Kazooie said after the Smashers had explained the situation, "but I _have_ kinda felt especially irritable the last three years. Banjo's bumbling naivety has reached an all-time high, and Humba…" She glanced at the calm-looking shaman, seated in the wigwam's single stone-slab chair. "Well, let's just say a lot of her latest magical exploits have gotten way out of hand."

Humba couldn't resist a tranquil smirk. "Humba think foul-mouthed bird make good pile of turd herself."

The Smashers were all either following the islanders' typical banter, or staring into the steaming pool of bubbling pink liquid, imagining what kinds of horrible transformations a Heartless Humba could concoct.

Kazooie looked affronted but let it stand, preferring to verbally assault someone else. She turned to Mario. "Anyway," she said, "you losers are pretty freakin' lucky you caught all three of us here at the same time."

DK nodded. "It's kind of absurdly convenient; as if there was some kind of narrative that needed to move forward, and you were all coincidentally here because the plot demanded it."

"Hey!" Kazooie turned sharply to the Kong. "I handle the fourth wall breaches around here."

DK shrugged. "You haven't exactly been a major player in this adventure; so I figured the mantle would fall on me as the only RareWare rep in the Twelve."

Kazooie didn't have a clever retort, so she just pooped a bouncing blue egg in disgust.

"Thanks for comin', y'all," Banjo said, tactfully changing the subject. "This place has been mighty dark for some while. We'll do everything we can to help ya stop this Mystic and save your friend." He turned to Humba. "You got some magic to help us out here?"

The stereotyped Indian nodded sagely. "Humba have big heap magic—but not for transformation this time. Watch and see."

She picked up a clay jar and pulled out a small, hot pink creature with huge eyes and large pointed ears. The Glowbo wriggled in her hand as she tossed it unceremoniously into the thick pool. The pool glowed with a white sheen, as if it had been implanted with a miniature lighthouse underneath.

Humba then turned and, with a heave, pulled forward a small cage, which held…a Heartless. She scooped a spoonful of the pink liquid and poured it onto the black insectoid between the bars. The Heartless disintegrated into black particles, which actually winked away like campfire sparks.

"It's a Heart a-Softener," Mario said, astonished.

"How did you know that would work?" Red said curiously.

"Because the plot demands it," DK and Kazooie blurted out simultaneously. They glared at each other.

"Because even with darkened heart, Humba liked her magic experiments," Humba corrected. "I give you many jars of Totem Brew, and then we go to fight big heap witch lizard."

"You're coming with us?" Yoshi said.

"Of course," Humba said, smiling. "This be my home. I also have score to settle with dark magic sorceress. She use magic for evil—but after today, no more."

* * *

The Bathyspheres, unfortunately, had to stay behind; there was no way their torpedoes could reach all the way up into the clouds. So the Spartan gunships and the _Normandy_ , with their newest allies in tow, ascended through the lowest layer of nebulous fluff and into the loopy realm of Cloud Cuckoo Land.

The sky world had once been bright and sunny and uplifting. Now, it was like an archipelago of floating islands caught up in a brooding cumulonimbus storm. The space around the islands themselves was, for the most part, clear of clouds—like the eye of the storm—but the ominous gray masses all around seemed to pulse threateningly.

Still, the place retained its quirky layout. The largest land mass was a tall, grassy mountain. At the top was precariously perched an architecturally implausible structure that had the appearance of a giant RareWare symbol: a golden "R" with the letter's spine missing. It towered some thirty stories high, yet showed not the slightest sign of instability in spite of the high winds.

Surrounding this central island in irregular positions above and below and not-quite-adjacent to it, there were smaller clusters of exceedingly strange features: a massive garbage can; a Jell-O castle; a giant block of moldy cheese. It caused Kirby to wonder whether he was having a dream about some of the less savory things he'd eaten.

"That's the old RareWare headquarters," Banjo explained from the cockpit of Master Chief's gunship. "L.O.G., Taj, Wizpig, and the other founding members used to have their big meetings up there to decide how to make our regions the best of all of Smash Planet. Kind of a dark history, I suppose. But we began using it again to get the New RareWare up and rollin' until the Heartless came. I'd bet Kazooie's flight feathers that the Mystic'll be holed up somewhere inside."

"That's a-weird," Luigi said, taking in the strange sights. "But at least there's a-nothing in our way—"

That was the moment, of course, when something got in their way. Several somethings, in fact.

At first they merely appeared to be enormous shadows cast by the throbbing clouds. But then they began to take shape—relatively speaking. Wisps and currents and polygons of pure blackness gathered like immaterial, faceless Fuzzies into amorphous things at least fifty feet tall, prowling around the mountain and across the air on shapeless legs, reaching around with formless arms. The titanic clusters of shadow seemed to have no clearly defined faces—until one of their empty, blinding white eyes and gaping mouths turned in the newcomers' direction, though it still hadn't noticed them.

"No…" Kameo whispered. "Shadow Trolls!"

"Dare I ask?" Samus asked.

Kameo's eyes flickered with fear. "Shadow Trolls might actually be worse than Heartless. They're from what we in the Enchanted Kingdom call the Shadow Realm—mobs of wandering souls that never found peace. One touch and they'll start draining your soul away to become part of them. I don't think even your Time Flutes or Totem Brew will do any good here."

"Too bad we didn't try and bring some of Jak's Light Eco from Sony," DK said, jeering at Kazooie. "Seems like a potential power source that was clearly overlooked by whoever's in charge of all this. Talk about plot holes."

Kazooie took the bait and snapped back in an attempt to outdo the Kong's meta commentary. "I guess this is where we obligatorily split up to fight whatever predetermined face-offs have been arranged for us."

No one else had a clue what the two were bickering about. Banjo cleared his throat.

"For once, Kazooie's right. There's no way we'll all get past those things unnoticed. Some of us've gotta stay behind and distract 'em while the rest go in to find Sora."

"My troops and I can't touch ground anyway," Master Chief said. "So I suggest everyone who's going inside let Zelda do her magic thing and teleport them past the Shadow Trolls. The rest of us will take care of these fiends."

Most of the Smashers—as well as Kameo and Banjo & Kazooie—were inclined to go with Zelda, with just a few staying behind. Samus stood beside the Master Chief and gave him a meaningful look.

"I'm with you on this one."

Master Chief nodded and turned to Mario, DK, and Pikachu, all of whom had opted to stay while the others went back into the cargo hold where Zelda was. "You soldiers with me for the long run as well?"

"Pika," Pikachu said, meaning, "I've always preferred thunderstorms to staying indoors."

"My squirrels are at your service, Chief!" Berri's voice sounded from the gunship's radio.

"Those smoke blobs won't know what hit 'em," Joanna's staticky voice added.

"I'm just staring at that," DK said, pointing at yet another concerning sight through the windshield.

From the very top of RareWare Tower peeked two black button eyes and a red baseball cap, just visible as a penny-sized speck from the gunship's position far below. Not to mention an enormous PK Flash that was swiftly heading for them.

"Move!" Samus urged, and the Chief accelerated. But it wouldn't be fast enough to save them.

Pikachu's large Light Screen just managed to encompass the gunship and absorb the blast, though it was a taxing effort on his part. Mario glanced at DK and turned to Master Chief.

"We'll a-handle Ness. We don't a-want to blow him up; just change him a-back."

DK arched an eyebrow, looking out at the open sky separating them from the tower. "But how are we gonna…"

Mario crushed the Super Leaf in his hand, sprouting raccoon-like ears and a bushy tail. He then offered another leaf to DK and made a slightly inaccurate but nonetheless catchy resolution. "It's Tanooki Time."

DK barely had time to squeeze the leaf and sprout alarming new appendages of his own before Mario flung the door open and pulled him out, the Kong's primal cry fading as they both vanished out of the gunship.

A thunderous roar echoed as one of the Shadow Trolls caught sight of them, and it turned with its six fellows to face the intruders.

"Now," Samus said, cocking her arm cannon and pointing it out the open door. "Take us up, Chief. Let's go troll hunting."


	24. Chapter 18: Your Broken Future (2)

Meanwhile in the gunship's cargo hold, the rest gathered around Zelda, who was quite confident she would be able to take them all to the top of the mountain. Even without a Chaos Emerald, and with the Shadow Trolls in her way, the complete Triforce gave her courage and confidence she had never experienced until Link and Ganondorf were gone. Controlling that power was a work in progress, but she believed now that it had been given to her for a reason.

Kameo, Banjo, Humba, Luigi, Yoshi, Kirby, Red, and Jigglypuff all put a hand (or arm stub) on Zelda's outstretched arms. She closed her eyes and summoned the swirling emerald currents of Farore's Wind, and a moment later, they were gone.

They reappeared on the peak of the floating mountain, directly in front of RareWare Tower's gold double doors, the seven Shadow Trolls unaware of their intrusion.

"Well," Banjo said, he and Kameo leading them up to the golden doors, "here goes nothin'."

He turned the R-shaped knob and pulled with all his bear strength—and almost fell backward, for it opened as easily as if it had been made of plastic.

"Well, that's different," Kameo commented as they filed inside. "I thought everything here was actual gold."

"Puff," Jigglypuff said, which meant something along the lines of "Fool's gold, more like."

They came into a round room, also golden, with several stairway entrances heading in different directions, as if they were the tips of individual strands of Twizzler licorice that would lead up the tower. The only decoration was a large RareWare symbol on the floor, beneath which were engraved these words: _excellentia magnitudo, sublimis gloria._

"In excellence is greatness, in greatness is glory," Kameo translated as they approached the engravings. "RareWare had such a great vision…but there was always an underlying falsehood, a subliminal superiority complex that let monsters like Wizpig destroy what we stood for."

"Maybe that be why big heap gold doors are hollow now," Humba mused. "RareWare's hidden artifice be brought to forefront by nasty Heartless."

"Would've helped if the Heartless had shown us that a long time ago, if you ask me," Kazooie said. "Then maybe we could've prevented that whole mess."

"Up," Kirby reminded them, pointing at one of the stairway entrances. No one questioned his selection—not even Kazooie. Though she did have to swallow the words "convenient" and "unlikely" before they exited her beak.

Like the tower in Wily's Fortress, this staircase seemed to go up for ages. After ten floors, they paused to catch their breath at the landing, a golden hallway branching off between flights.

"Why," Luigi panted, "couldn't Rare-a-Ware…have put in…some Warp a-Pipes?"

"It does seem kind of strange for an organization so intent on excellence to make their HQ so hard to navigate," Yoshi agreed.

Kameo shrugged. "Pretty much everyone in RareWare can just fly or climb up the outside; no one ever really uses the stairs anymore."

"Well, they should at least install an elevator or something," Red said, hands on his knees. "Right, Jigglypuff?…Jigglypuff?"

Suddenly, he realized the Balloon Pokémon was no longer with them. He was about to panic when a hidden panel in the hallway slid aside, and Jigglypuff hopped out of the secret elevator and regarded them with delighted pity.

As they all crowded into the elevator, Kirby approached his fellow puffball with profound disappointment.

"Share?" he lamented.

Jigglypuff's heart melted at her friend's sadness and gave him a reparational hug. Kirby beamed; all was right with the world.

"So…where do we go from here?" Yoshi said. They might have access to an elevator now, but the thirty R-shaped floor buttons were not encouraging.

"Knowing the Mystic?" Kameo pressed the top button. "As high as we can."

As they went up the secret elevator—which hadn't been used since Nightmare had walked into L.O.G.'s office to discuss the future of the Smash Universe—it rode as smoothly as if it had just been lubricated and the interior just polished. Jigglypuff explained to Kirby, Red, and Yoshi (who were the only ones that could understand her) that she had noticed a tiny crack in her otherwise flawless reflection and had deflated herself to explore inside, stumbling upon the hidden elevator car. Kazooie found the retranslated story metafictionally suspicious, but by the time she opened her mouth to object, an ominous _ping_ signaled that they had reached the top, and the door slid open.

It was a large office of pure gold—desk, rolling chairs, even potted plants and framed paintings of odd designs. One resembled a jumble of music notes; another the innards of a computer motherboard; another an erratic jigsaw puzzle. Open windows looked out on the dark gray skies, the hulking shapes of the Shadow Trolls casting occasional shadows across the glass.

At the center of the room was what looked like an uncomfortable golden dentist chair, to which a frighteningly weak-looking Sora was strapped, red welts and bruises on his pallid face and arms and neck as if he was halfway transformed into a zombie. On either side of the reclined seat were Mumbo Jumbo and the Mystic. The former was using some kind of shaman magic to channel a bright pink energy from Sora's chest, then redirecting it into the Mystic's hunched, cloaked figure.

"Mystic!" Kameo stepped into the room, fists clenched, with the rest close behind. The pain of eons of family betrayal was now rushing through her body, demanding that she exact justice from this treacherous hag. "Let him go!"

The channeling energy cut off and the two magic-wielders turned to the heroes calmly.

"Predictable again, I'm afraid," she croaked, her Crystal Eye shining brighter than ever. "I could have tripped up your journey with scores of Heartless along the way, of course…but that would just have been a waste of time for you, me, and frankly, the readers."

"You're going down, slimy," Kazooie cawed from Banjo's backpack, incensed by the Mystic's fourth wall breach.

"Mumbo, is that really you?" Banjo asked, horrified at the sight of his supposedly deceased friend. "Why are you helpin' Xehanort?"

The Mystic just shook her head. "This is too much noise for my taste. Entertain some of them downstairs, will you, shaman?"

Mumbo nodded almost robotically, absolutely no emotion in his own traitorous eyes. He waved his skull-tipped wand, and with a loud lurch, the elevator behind them slid back to life, swallowing Banjo & Kazooie, Humba, Red, Kirby, and Zelda as it dropped out of sight. A moment later, Mumbo Jumbo vanished as well like a snuffed candle flame.

"Yoshi!" Yoshi cried in his own tongue as his friends disappeared. But there was no helping them now. He turned to the Mystic with fire in his eyes. "You'll—"

"Regret that?" the Mystic finished. "So you were about to say. But I'm afraid that is not in the forecast, Yoshi. No…" She glanced from Yoshi to Kameo, Luigi, and Jigglypuff. "This is where your future ends. This is the day the Smash Brothers break…forever."

Luigi drew his hammer, and Kameo opened the Wotnot Book, and Yoshi and Jigglypuff took up fighting stances.

"You think you a-know the future," Luigi said, "but we've a-got a better fortune-teller than a-you, and she's seen that we'll a-win. And you and a-Xehanort will lose!"

At that, the Mystic seemed to tremble with amusement. "Your Madame Clairvoya? She may have communed with the spirits beyond…she may have conveyed some abstract prophecies of hypothetical ends…but she can no more ensure your future than your brother's unspoken wedding vows. With even the small portion of magic I've absorbed from Sora's heart, and with the might imbued in me by Master Xehanort, the fates are not in your favor."

Luigi fumed, and Kameo acted.

She summoned the magic of the Wotnot Book, transforming into the Element of Power known as 40 Below. This incarnation came in the form of an ice creature that somewhat resembled an anorexic Bowser with a shrunken head, its torso rolling on a snowball, its body composed of opaque silver-blue ice.

The Mystic responded in a most unexpected way: She plucked the Crystal Eye out of her socket, then held it up with a wily, insidious smile. The cloudy purple sphere flashed a bright white and expanded into a long, jagged Keyblade, the eye itself leering at the heroes from the hilt. The Mystic gave it a deceptively agile practice swing.

"Time to face your future, heroes."

* * *

The gold elevator shook violently as it plunged several floors down, then jarred to such a sudden halt that all of its occupants tumbled to the floor. Banjo & Kazooie, Humba, Red, Kirby, and Zelda staggered to their feet and looked warily through the open door to where Mumbo Jumbo awaited them.

It was a golden "dentist's office" of sorts, only the instruments looked more like tools of torture than of tooth care. Sora's chair was conspicuously missing, leaving in its place a table with several clay jars and vials of bubbling liquid and beakers filled with colored powders. All signs of the arcane magical experimentation that must have taken place here.

"You stop this, Mumbo!" Humba yelled.

Mumbo didn't even acknowledge her; he simply raised his wand, summoning a horde of strange creatures from the ground. They were two-dimensional blobs of color, with stubby arms and legs and gaping cartoonish mouths and wild, bulging eyes. There were lime green ones wielding daisies; violet ones wielding sausages; and turquoise ones wielding candy canes. It was as if they were children's ideas that had come straight out of the paper world of Shy Guy's Toybox, which some of the Smashers had once visited during their adventure in the Dimension Conflux.

Mumbo pointed his wand at the heroes, and the Flatsos attacked.

Red sliced one lengthwise with the bottom half of the Cooper Cane and punctured a hole through another with the hooked end. Kirby discreetly sucked Kazooie out of Banjo's backpack, swallowed, and spat her back out. The newly formed Kazooie Kirby retained a goofy pointed beak and scarlet wings, as well as the Breegull's diverse egg-shooting capabilities, which she proceeded to utilize alongside the bear and bird. Zelda quickly transformed into Sheik and flung ninja stars through several Flatsos at a time, leaping off walls and off the ceiling as she acrobatically dismantled the bizarre baddies. However, as many as any of the heroes tore apart, more kept popping out of the ground like malicious pieces of toast.

Humba headed toward Mumbo himself, secretly pleased by this excuse to finally face her longtime rival in combat. She generated a ball of pink energy and cast it at the skull-faced shaman, who responded in kind with a pink energy sphere of his own.

Amidst the energy blast, Humba leapt forward and poured a vial of Totem Brew onto Mumbo's face, smiling triumphantly.

"Now you back to normal, friend," she said. Her heart was, admittedly, racing from much more than the heat of the battle. Somehow, some way, her dearest friend had been brought back to life. And now they could fight side by side once more.

But the brew did not have any effect. Mumbo merely stared at Humba, and his eyes turned an evil red, and he reached up and ripped off the yellow-orange mask of his face, revealing the robotic steel underneath.

Humba's heart nearly exploded. "You no Mumbo…You Mingy Jongo!"

"I hate that guy!" Kazooie piped in as she and Banjo combatted the swarming Flatsos.

Mingy Jongo's electric laugh was eerily similar to Commander Sigma's. He was a robotic replica of Mumbo Jumbo that had been created by Gruntilda the Witch in an attempt to lure Banjo & Kazooie to their deaths. Apparently, somewhere along the way, the Mystic or Xehanort or L.O.G. had brought him back into existence.

"And you, Humba," he buzzed, "be dead."

The stream of electric pink magic coursed from his wand and into Humba's body. She screamed in pain—both physical and emotional. The Mystic had known exactly what would break her spirit.

Ryu's Dragon Sword cleaved the skull tip off of Mingy Jongo's wand, cutting off its deadly magic. Zelda stood protectively in front of Humba's collapsed figure and narrowed her eyes. "You disrespect the dead."

Mingy Jongo didn't seem to be in a talkative mood, infuriated by the loss of his wand—and of his revenge. He jumped backward and raised his arms, causing thousands of pink sparks to encircle him as he began to chant.

 _"Eeko-boko-eeko-boko-mo-me-ni-mu._ _Mo-me-ni-mu…"_

Zelda tried to charge him, but the sparks exerted an intangible force, holding her back.

Mingy Jongo's spell, known to him as _Corazonus Obscurus,_ transformed him into what was essentially a giant robotic skull with black tendrils of Heartless matter curling from around it like a skeletal Medusa, its engorged eyes an even deeper red.

Zelda gasped. She suspected an attack from this special Heartless would not only cause her harm, but would darken her heart as well. She couldn't let that happen.

Mingy Jongo rushed forward and collided against the Dragon Sword. One black tendril crept past the weapon during the impact and seared Zelda's cheek. The sword in turn raked a long slash across Mingy Jongo's face, but his grinning skull didn't falter; Zelda had the impression that he could be cut up into a million pieces of marrow, and he would still come back for more. She cried out and touched the cut on her cheek gingerly; the Heartless were already beginning to overcome her again. She couldn't let that happen…

Then Humba rejoined her on one side and quickly applied a touch of Totem Brew to Zelda's cheek, causing the Heartless infection to dissolve within the princess' s blood. Banjo & Kazooie joined them on Zelda's other side, having torn themselves away from the Flatso fight.

Humba dropped a Glowbo into a small pot in her hands, muttered a few foreign words, and drank the concoction herself. This time she was the one who transformed, becoming, of all things, a flying porcelain toilet with angel wings. But a sparkling clean one.

Banjo gave the thumbs up to Kazooie, who activated her preciously scarce Gold Feathers, surrounding the two of them with their own shining aura of invincibility. He nodded to Zelda and Humba. "For our dead."

The three rushed forward as the Heartless-powered Mingy Jongo sped toward them in turn, his electric laugh uncomfortably reminiscent of malfunctioning speakers.

To keep a short story short, Banjo & Kazooie tackled Mingy Jongo down; Zelda stabbed him straight through the skull; and Humba's majestic toilet form flushed his remains out of existence.

* * *

"Watch your flank!"

The gunship following Master Chief's was nearly stricken out of the sky by one of the Shadow Trolls' amorphous limbs, even as the constant staccato of gunfire rained from all of the gunships, and several bright lasers emitted from the _Normandy._

"Is this a conquest mission, Chief?" Commander Shepard inquired through Master Chief's communicator. "Or is it a delay-tactics, suicide one? Because knowing that _could_ affect our strategy at this point."

"He's got a point, hun," Joanna said. Her sniper rifle hadn't been particularly effective against the nebulous creatures either.

The Shadow Trolls had thus far proven unkillable. Nothing Samus, or Berri's squirrels, or Master Chief's or Shepard's guns tried had any impact on the shadowy monsters whatsoever. The only thing the troops had succeeded in doing was divert the giants' attention.

"I don't believe in suicide missions, commander," the Chief responded. "It's time for us to get creative…"

Finally, Pikachu had recovered enough from his exhausting Light Screen to climb out of the gunship's cargo hold onto the roof and begin charging electric energy. The already-dark clouds above suddenly grew even darker.

"Piiiii…kaaaaa…"

Two Shadow Trolls notice the Pokémon and acted accordingly. One sent out a part of its "body" in the form of a formation of shadowy missiles that homed in on Master Chief's vessel. The other conjured a trio of swirling vortexes that appeared in the gunship's imminent path as it flew away from the floating mountain and toward the giant block of moldy cheese.

Samus noticed Pikachu's dilemma and wasted no time joining him on the roof.

"You focus on your thunderstorm," she shouted over the raging winds. "I'll take care of everything else!"

True to her word, Samus disposed of the approaching shadow missiles with her own missiles and a couple well-timed charge shots. Unfortunately, she didn't have any attention left to give to the approaching vortexes.

Master Chief swore as, passing beside one of the shadowy circles, a black spike emerged from it and struck straight through the cargo hold, which was thankfully empty, then retracted back into the hole. He mentally apologized to those on the roof and swerved down toward the moldy cheese, having his work cut out for him as more vortexes appeared and spikes struck out at them. One hit to the cockpit or the engine and it would be game over.

Pikachu somehow managed to hold his ground in spite of the destabilizing jerks. At last, his Thunder attack reached its greatest capacity, and noticing some of Cloud Cuckoo Land's other landmarks, he devised a creative method of discharging it.

The giant bolt of lightning descended from the black clouds above and struck not at one of the Shadow Trolls, but down and against the side of the giant garbage can. It reflected off the metal surface, and its condensed energy split into a close cluster of smaller bolts, all of which zigzagged straight into the Jell-O Castle.

"Shields—now!" Master Chief cried, seeing what was about to happen.

In a phenomenon that would have made Kazooie complain, the giant cube of red gelatin exploded like a wobbly firework, spewing fragments across the entire skyscape. The gunships and the _Normandy_ absorbed the electrified chunks with their shields, but the seven Shadow Trolls weren't so lucky. With light being their greatest (not to mention stereotypical) weakness, the spreadshot of bright specks caused them all to utter tremendous bellows, far surpassing any thunderstorm. Their already undefined forms dissipated completely, chased away by the light. Whether they had been destroyed or had merely fled was anyone's guess, but at any rate they were gone for now.

Berri watched the display with wide eyes and dropped jaw. She turned to the large red squirrel beside her in the cargo hold. "Remind me to hire that mouse next time we have a fireworks show."

* * *

Tanooki Mario and Tanooki Donkey Kong veered around either side of another explosive PK Flash as they soared up to the roof of RareWare Tower, an unthinkable height that DK wasn't overly fond of; but then again, neither was he thrilled about the striped tail sticking from his rump. To be fair, though, at least it was keeping him from free-falling a mile or two through the air.

They both rolled onto the golden roof and turned to face the Heartless Ness. Mario's fist ignited while DK wound his up.

"You're not your-a-self, Ness; just let us help a-you."

Ness's stone expression contained the bottled-up resentment of years of being bullied by his neighbor, Porky, of always being treated like a child even among the Smash Brothers, of being forced to confront soul-chilling beings like Giygas and Nightmare.

"You're not my friends," he said coldly. "You just wanna take my power away; you wanna bully me like Porky always used to do."

Mario sighed. "We're not a-bullies. You'll see in just a moment."

"This is for your own good, kid," DK said.

With that, Mario and DK started toward the PSI boy at a run. Ness began casting PK Fires and Freezes with one hand and then the other, forcing his targets to jump and roll out of the way, singing DK's arm hair and chilling the tip of one of Mario's shoes. After narrowly dodging a long onslaught of fire and ice bursts, both Mario and DK leapt at Ness with fists raised.

Ness rolled out of the way of Mario's fiery fist, then whipped out his deceptively strong baseball bat and whacked DK in the head, sending him a good twenty feet across the precarious rooftop. Then, without even looking, he raised a hand and crushed both of Mario's withdrawn Totem Brews with his mind, the pink liquid splashing uselessly onto the smooth metallic surface. Mario froze in the act of raising one of the brews to pour on Ness, and laughed sheepishly.

Ness closed his eyes and initiated a PK Brainshock. Suddenly, Mario felt loopy and dizzy and nauseous all at once. He watched the ground rise up to meet his face as the vertigo caused him to topple onto his stomach with a heavy "oomph." Ness walked up to him and raised his bat, looking more like a bully than ever.

The vial of Totem Brew shattered against the back of Ness's head, DK's lucky throw nailing its mark. Ness dropped his baseball bat in surprise and freed Mario from the PK Brainshock, a hazy expression coming over him.

"Huh?"

DK went over and pulled Mario to his feet.

"I would feel bad for you," he grunted, "except for the fact that you made me grow a tail instantaneously."

Mario retched and glared at DK. "You're a-welcome."

* * *

Kameo and the Mystic clashed against each other—elemental ice against Crystal Eye Keyblade—swerving around and coming at each other again and again, while the other heroes dealt with the several Darkside Heartless that had appeared to occupy them. The golden office quickly became a golden mess.

"You killed my parents," Kameo's voice breathed from 40 Below as they pushed against each other, icicle arm against Keyblade. "Our family trusted you…and you betrayed us all. Why didn't you kill me?"

The Mystic's empty black socket seemed to bore into her soul. "You make a much more suitable figurehead than I, my dear," she said. "As you will again once this little skirmish is over. How else could I attend to my magic experiments if I were burdened with the responsibilities of the throne? Inciting your father against the trolls…turning Kalus against you…even allowing you and your friends to overthrow the Moon Deity…everything I have done was for one purpose: To claim my place as master of magic, as moderator of past, present, and future. I may be the last of the Sargothan race…but through magic, no feat is beyond possibility. I need no Crystal Eye to know that with the magic of Kingdom Hearts, I can bring the Sargothans back to power…back to a grander destiny than the Elves were ever capable of seeing."

The Mystic twirled her Keyblade and brought its curved blade up between the hinged segments of 40 Below's right arm, severing it with a single flourish. The Elemental Warrior retaliated with a blast of icy mist, but its target sidestepped the attack and sent a pulse of purple energy into Kameo, knocking her onto her back and forcing her to revert to her elfin form. She cried out in pain, suffering the agony of both the Heartless magic and her severed arm. The Wotnot Book fell beyond her reach. It was over.

A green-spotted egg popped in the Mystic's face before she could finish Kameo off. She turned to Yoshi in annoyance.

" _You_ are a disgrace to your kind—a domestic steed; a pet. How can you content yourself with such an unfulfilling lifestyle on an island of idlers, letting other species dictate your shallow destiny? It is truly pathetic. A sign of a species doomed to extinction."

Yoshi stood his ground with determination. "I think you're the one who doesn't understand what it means to have a fulfilling lifestyle. We Yoshis don't aspire to power, it's true…but it's because we already have the most precious thing: family. And Mario, and others who visit us in peace? They become part of that family, so we help each other—not because of magic or power, but because of love. That's part of why I was the first to break free of the Heartless' spell…and it's why neither you, nor Xehanort, nor anyone else will ever truly tear us apart."

"You speak like a prophet," the Mystic said, her single reptilian eye contracting. "Let us see if you are a false one."

She lunged toward Yoshi—only to be cut off by Jigglypuff's fully charged Rollout. Luigi had just finished off the last Darkside and had loosened Sora's bonds, supporting him as they came over to join the rest.

"It's over, Mystic," Luigi said.

The Mystic rose back up and brushed herself off. "Is it?"

Another shimmering pulse of energy spread out from her in a widening ring, knocking down Yoshi, Luigi, and Sora beside Kameo. Jigglypuff, too short to be affected, sprung at the Mystic with her electric flyswatter raised, but just before she could take the Vassal down, the Mystic swung her Keyblade around and pierced her with the tip. Instead of impaling the Pokémon, its magic caused Jigglypuff to quickly solidify into stone, then drop onto the ground like dumbbell, a fierce look still etched in her petrified features.

"No!" Yoshi cried.

The Mystic slowly turned back to the downed heroes. "Now you see…you cannot beat me, Smash Brothers. Not when my prescience keeps me several steps ahead of you. Not when I am always poised to counter your every move, your every thought. But before your breakage is complete, I will show you a brief glimpse of This World's future—the future you have had such high hopes for…"

The Crystal Eye on the Keyblade's hilt flashed, and then everything went black.

 _None of them were physically present, and yet they could all see the strange scene laid out before them. They were in deep space, glittering stars arrayed all around them like stray specks of shiny sea salt. The stars were not arranged in constellations any of the heroes recognized. But at the center, there was a conspicuous absence of stars—an absence caused by a gaping black void somehow even darker than the space around it. It was a sphere of nothingness; a portal to oblivion; a black hole._

 _Then something changed. The black hole seemed to be pulling at the dimensional fabric around it like a bathroom drain. At first it just looked like darkness feeding on darkness; but then a swirl of colors was being sucked into it like a dusty rainbow nebula. The colorful vortex widened in diameter slowly, then rapidly, expanding farther and farther._

 _Soon, it was racing across the galaxy, consuming stars and planets and everything in between. Great spheres of fire and rock and ice disintegrated and were no more, forgotten in the ever-expanding spiral. Within just a few minutes, it had consumed the universe itself. Smash Planet; the Lylat System; the Federations; they were all gone._

The vision ended, the Mystic regarding her victims as gravely as before. "Now you see, heroes…Xehanort is not just here to pass judgment. He is here to usher in the End. The universes before…Disney…Final Fantasy…and so on back…they are not merely wiped out. They are wiped _away_ —from all existence. My magic shall take me and my people to a safe world…but this is the final destiny that awaits you. This is what the Hand of Fate, which you seem to think is in your favor, has in store. And it is not far distant when this will all come to pass. Consider it a mercy, then, that you will not live to witness it!"

None of them could do anything, incapacitated by the Mystic's magic as she raised her Crystal Eye Keyblade again. A wall of condemning purple eyes formed in front of her, gazing down upon their imminent victims—though if the Mystic's words were true, Kameo would be spared to have her heart darkened again and to resume her post as puppet queen of the Enchanted Kingdom.

The eyes vanished as a two-dimensional metal fish bowl spun through the air and plonked against the Mystic's head, throwing off her magic. It continued spinning and returned to its owner's stubby hand like a boomerang. The Mystic, and everyone else, turned to the newcomer in shock.

Metal Mr. Game & Watch said nothing, but bounced toward the Mystic and slammed its Judgment Hammer against her, holding up a sign that read "8." Upon impact, the Vassal was encased in a solid coat of ice. The metal Smasher looked at the heroes briefly, nodded in one jagged frame, and bounced through one of the office's wide windows and out of sight.

Sora, as drained as he was, knew what he had to do. With the help of Luigi and Yoshi, he staggered to his feet and limped toward the Mystic. The Kingdom Key formed in his hand.

"Mystic," he managed weakly, "you've failed this kingdom."

As her body was pierced by the blade and disappeared in a flurry of white hearts, the Mystic's scaly face registered an emotion it had never expressed before.

Surprise.

* * *

Their victory against the Shadow Trolls was short-lived.

As Mario and DK began to explain to Ness what was going on, a series of dark, dish-shaped objects descended through the clouds and toward the floating mountain. They were, quite unmistakably, UFOs.

"Run!" DK yelled as one of flying saucers veered toward them. This time, DK actually held his hand out for a Super Leaf, which Mario also distributed to Ness before activating his own. And without hesitation, they jumped off the edge of RareWare Tower.

But mid-jump, the Starmen's UFO hovered directly above them and activated a yellow tractor beam, freezing them in midair and causing their figures to dematerialize as they were absorbed into the ship.

Not too far below, Master Chief, Berri, Joanna Dark, and Commander Shepard were opening fire on the flying saucers. But the alien vessels appeared impervious to most of their guns, save for the _Normandy_ 's most powerful lasers. Though one or two of their number was downed by the Microsians, their retaliation of zigzagging yellow energy segments proved much more destructive. Three of the Spartan gunships were blown to pieces, and the rest were forced to retreat, some smoking and aflame with damaged wings or engines.

"Hold on!" Master Chief yelled as his gunship began plummeting down through Cloud Cuckoo Land, every emergency light flashing and emergency sound blaring, the cockpit shaking like the inside of a maraca.

But he was speaking to no one, for even as his gunship fell, another flying saucer tractor-beamed Samus and Pikachu from the roof before they could offer any resistance. It joined the rest of the UFOs, which seemed satisfied with their haul and rose and vanished up into the clouds.

The fleet of Starman ships exited the atmosphere and entered the vastness of space. Already they were reorienting themselves and preparing to head back to Synobazz where they had come from. Each silver disk spinning at different rates, it was like a balancing act with spinning plates except without the poles. Even in victory, the Starmen did not pause to celebrate; from one objective to the next was how they operated.

But their orderliness was broken by the sudden entrance of a newcomer. It was a flying neon blue boat complete with a sail, white wings, and intricate star designs running across its hull and along the three turquoise oars rowing through space out of each side. The ship made its intentions quite clear by firing an enormous blue laser, which destroyed several UFOs and caused the rest to scatter or attempt to retaliate.

But the blue boat had a specific objective as well. It homed in on the two UFOs bearing the Smashers and activated a tractor beam of its own, sucking the five Nintendonians out through the bottom of the silver disks and pulling them carefully into its hull.

With its new passengers in tow, the space boat turned away, ignoring the futile attacks of the Starmen, and jumped to hyperspeed and was gone.

* * *

 **Skyworld**

* * *

Pit raised an eyebrow as he noticed something strange about his Reflection Pool map of the Smash Universe. Recently, he had expanded the view past Smash Planet to include many of the surrounding systems. That was all well and good, for now he knew where the rest of Organization XIII was and where to find extraterrestrial Heart Softeners. But something about the stars' and planets' movements didn't make sense, causing him to frown. He would tell the Smash Brothers about it the next time they contacted him.

Two shadows crept into the dimly lit chamber unannounced. Pit spun around and raised his Sacred Bow, fitting a shining blue arrow to its heavenly string.

One was Cyber K. Rool—the King of the West—its single cybernetic eye glowing a malicious red through the blue-tinted darkness. And beside the Vassal was Xehanort himself.

Pit released the arrow, which halted an inch from Xehanort's head, then fizzled away. Xehanort pointed his ram-horned Keyblade, and a cloud of small black keys flooded into the room past the Greek pillars, surrounding the angel and holding him in place. Pit yelled and struggled, but it was no use.

Xehanort stepped slowly toward him, like a tired old man, leaving Cyber K. Rool at the chamber's entrance. His topaz eyes flickered with heat.

"You have done well, Kid Icarus," he said. "I might venture to say you proved almost as useful as the Hero of Legend in prolonging This World's judgment. As such, you have earned the right to share in his release."

"Where's Lady Palutena?" Pit grunted in pain; the thousands of tiny black key teeth dug into his skin. "Leave her alone; this was all me. She had nothing to do with it."

"Not directly, perhaps," Xehanort agreed. "But her divinity within Skyworld's sphere seems to have granted her a degree of independence that I cannot allow. Don't worry…she is alive. My faithful Vassal procured the mythical Head of Medusa—it was you who slew that beast, was it not?—and now your deity is the most exquisite exhibit of Skyworld's gardens."

Pit's head and heart pounded, his brain injected with a slight measure of relief. So Palutena was turned to stone. At least she could be restored.

"I know your plans," Pit said. "You're not just here to corrupt This World; you're here to destroy everyone and everything in it."

Xehanort's expression remained inscrutable. "Not just destroy," he said. "Something destroyed can be rebuilt. When This World's final consummation comes, Kid Icarus, it will be the total end of its existence. It will be an utter destruction of mind, matter, and memory. And it will be what the Smash Universe deserves."

He ran Pit through with his Keyblade and let the boy's body fall to the ground, then turned to Cyber K. Rool.

"The Mystic has fallen," he said. "Her prophecies were all true; the Smash Brothers have indeed been broken—just not in the way she expected. This means they will turn to the stars to continue their quest."

"And will you continue to watch them hunt the Organization?" Professor U. Reeka's voice asked.

Xehanort looked thoughtful. "Yes. But time is running out for them; I will send one of my puppets to further delay their search. They will never find and defeat my three other Vassals before the Great Convergence comes full circle. All we need do is wait for the darkness to claim them…and then their Kingdom Hearts will truly become mine."

* * *

 **? ? ? ? ? ? ?**

* * *

Mario opened his eyes, feeling strangely energized. After the battle in Cloud Cuckoo Land, he felt neither pain nor discomfort, as if he was one of Red's Pokémon that had just been rejuvenated at a Pokémon Center.

All was a bright neon blue, a bit hard on his eyes; but like adjusting to darkness, his sight adapted and grew to tolerate it. He sat up on a cot to find himself in a sleek metal chamber—and he wasn't alone. On adjacent cots were DK, Ness, Samus, and Pikachu. All were sleeping soundly, with not a cut or scrape on their bodies (or on Samus's Power Suit).

A door slid open on the wall opposite him, and their host hovered into the room.

He was an odd egg-shaped alien dressed in electric blue with what looked like pointed blue candy corn pieces for ears and two benign yellow eyes blinking from an otherwise concealed brown face. And although Mario had never met him before, there was something about him that reminded Mario of someone he knew.

"Thank goodness; you're awake!" he said in a friendly, surprisingly normal voice. He observed the others' sleeping figures and turned back to Mario. "Well, I know all about you Smash Brothers, of course. But allow me to introduce myself. I'm Magolor. Welcome aboard the _Lor Starcutter_! I know you've all been through a lot lately, but you don't have to worry about those Starmen anymore. You're safe with me."

* * *

 **END OF BOOK 3**


	25. Chapter 19: Fallen Stars (1)

Book 4

The Final Frontier

* * *

" _To defeat this enemy, the lesser of two evils will have to become acceptable for a time…Indeed, many who once fought one another to the death shall be forced to fight together for their lives…"_

 _ **~The Great Deku Tree**_

* * *

Chapter 19: Fallen Stars

* * *

 **Venom**

 **Lylat System**

* * *

 ** _A_** ndross's old laboratory was located deep within Venom's inner core, a place that would have been bathed in pitch blackness were it not for the dotted lines of sickly yellow light running up the walls parallel to each other, bending into numerous tunnels as they snaked their way up the large central chamber, illuminating the intricate chrome walls and an assortment of machines that would have made Ulysses Reeka proud. Suffice it to say that that there were enough blinking lights, whirring motors, bubbling chemicals, and sparking tesla coils to give the impression of some kind of dark mechanical consciousness, as if the planet had a literal mind of its own.

A shadowy figure faced the blue hologram of Xehanort, stroking his pointed white beard, which had grown to nearly the length of his predecessor's. His dark blue eyes were focused on the hologram with a deranged rapture—a strange blend of twisted curiosity and scarcely subdued passion.

"You know, then, what you must do," Xehanort said, and then he was gone.

Dash Bowman, revered scientific genius and backstage ruler of Lylat, smiled with a youthfulness he hadn't felt since he had served in the Cornerian Fleet. Master Xehanort had given him great power, but had also forbidden him from destroying Star Fox and the Cornerians. Dash had been free to inherit his grandfather's legacy, but unable to exact his revenge. But now, if the Smash Brothers did indeed come and cause the trouble he hoped they would, then the full extent of Andross's wishes—and his own—would finally be realized.

* * *

 **Lor Starcutter**

* * *

As soon as Mario, DK, Ness, Samus, and Pikachu had all awoken from their nightmarish double abduction by first the Starmen and then this strange alien in a neon blue galleon, Magolor had greeted them and insisted on giving them the grand tour of the _Lor Starcutter_. The Smashers followed him warily, for even though this stranger had saved them, they were still a very long way from trusting him.

"Kirby and I go way back," Magolor said as he led them down a bright blue hallway. "I crashed into Dreamland one day after the _Starcutter_ malfunctioned and coughed me out of my native world of Halcandra into this dimension. Kirby not only helped me repair my ship, but together we also stopped a dangerous artifact called the Master Crown from taking over the universe. I owe him a lot, so it's the least I can do to lend some of his friends a hand."

"Thanks!" Ness said. Frankly, he was just grateful to not be dark-hearted anymore, and to be far away from Xehanort and the Starmen. Whatever exotic space traveler was willing to rescue him from Giygas's old minions, he would accept it.

"So you're from another dimension," Samus said. "Then why are you back? And how did you escape the Heartless?"

"Pika," Pikachu added doubtfully, meaning, "Or _did_ he escape them at all?"

Magolor nodded. "All good questions. That's actually what I wanted to show you first. Everything will make sense soon; I promise!"

They entered what appeared to be a cargo hold with a rather unusual inventory. Stacked against the walls were large glass boxes filled with a clear, sparkling liquid—a liquid DK and Pikachu recognized from the Fountain of Dreams.

"Dream Water," DK said, impressed by the hefty supply.

"When Xehanort came," Magolor said, "I'd been shipping these crates to Halcandra. Dreamland's Fountain of Dreams and Star Rod are interesting objects that the Halcandrans believed might be of help in ordering their universe. I dunno if they were right or wrong, but I was commissioned to bring these samples over as we considered the possibility of building our own Fountain. But before I could go back, the Heartless' influence spread across the universe, and I was unable to go home. The impact of those black dust clouds shattered one of the crates, splashing me and somehow rendering me immune to the Heartless. Ever since then, I've been wandering the galaxies, looking for a way back to Halcandra in vain, taking on some freelance jobs, hiding from the Heartless for fear of being turned by them again. It was really just lucky happenstance that I found you guys before those saucers carted you away."

Mario stroked his mustache. "That's an interesting a-story. We've a-had experiences with the Dream a-Water too. It's a-strong enough to purge a-the hearts of anyone from the Heartless."

"Really?" Magolor's yellow eyes widened. "That's amazing! Wow…I've really been wasting time, then…just looking to save myself when I could've been helping lots of people."

"Eh, it probably wouldn't have done much good anyways," DK said. "If it makes you feel any better, Xehanort's Organization XIII is pretty strict about making sure anyone who's purged gets visited by the Heartless again soon after."

"Which brings us to another thing," Samus said. "We need to go back to our friends on Smash Planet. We've got…important things to do."

Magolor's candy corn ears actually drooped a little. "Uh…yeah, I think this is a good time for me to show you the Skydeck. Follow me!"

He led them back down the hallway, then onto a sleek elevator which made them all feel queasy (except Samus) since its stomach-turning motions were compounded by the light-headed nowhere-ness of being on a spaceship.

They came out on the main deck of the _Starcutter_. Obviously, they weren't openly exposed to the vacuum of space. But they were enclosed in a transparent dome that gave them a spectacular view of the glittering constellations and dusty nebulae inhabiting the incomprehensible vastness of the celestial sea. The view was so awe-inspiring that they almost didn't notice the simplistic, classically spoked ship's wheel at the stern, from which one could steer the vessel manually when needed.

"So…here's the thing," Magolor said. "I can't take you back to Smash Planet yet."

"Pika?" Pikachu asked.

"I'm sort of in the middle of a transaction, shipping a load of Invincibility Candy and Maxim Tomatoes to Popstar for a client there. If I don't get them to him pronto, I'll be in big trouble. I've gotta head there and drop them off first, then I'll bring you straight back. Sorry."

Mario glanced at the others, then shrugged. It wasn't like this was their ship; they couldn't tell him how to captain it. They were his guests, his rescued castaways. Mario nodded.

"It's a-fine. We'll a-come with you."

"How long do you think this'll take?" DK said, not overly thrilled by the prospect of more space travel.

"Just a couple days," Magolor said. "I would just hyperspeed us all the way there, but these Dream Water containers are fragile; I'm lucky they didn't break just from the short emergency jump we did to get away from the Starmen."

Magolor then went into a long lecture about how the _Lor Starcutter_ worked—how it came to be formed from the stardust of a shattered planet; how he had acquired it as an aspiring freelance pilot through some kind of Wheelie race wager he'd won against a Bandana Waddle Dee. He described in rather unnecessary detail the specs of the ship, went over some emergency procedures in case of unexpected crises such as comets or Space Pirate attacks, and then began pointing out constellations in the unfamiliar beyond. Samus and Ness listened with particular interest, while the rest ranged from Mario's mild curiosity to DK's near apathy.

"You see that small swirly cluster of green stars over there?" Magolor continued. "That's the tip of the Emerald Wizard; it's kind of hard to see the rest of him, but it was near his left eye where Kirby defeated Zero Two—"

"That's great," DK finally interrupted. "Thanks for the tour. Now could we get something to eat, please? Before I start ripping things apart?"

Magolor shifted his focus to DK and blinked in slight bewilderment, as if he'd just awoken from a starry trance. "Wow; I'm so sorry! Sometimes I can get carried away talking about my ship and about the universe…I'll show you to the cafeteria right away. Follow me!"

He led them back into the _Starcutter_ 's hull, and a few hallways later, they came into a spacious combined kitchen and dining room, the floor paneled with neon blue and dark neon blue tiles, the tables and chairs and kitchenware pearly white.

"Give me just a minute," their host said. "I think I've got some strawberry shortcake down in the hold; it was always Kirby's favorite…"

Magolor left, and the rest took seats around a circular dining table, glancing warily at the doorway through which the Halcandran had exited.

"So what do we a-think?" Mario said. "Can we trust a-Magolor with our mission?"

"He seems really nice," Ness said.

"Pika," Pikachu pointed out, meaning, "So did L.O.G." His exact meaning, of course, wasn't grasped by the others, but his doubtful tone conveyed his opinion well enough.

"Frankly, I wouldn't trust that guy further than I could throw Bowser across my treehouse," DK said, referring to an actual event that had occurred during one of the Smash Tournaments. "But it's not like we can just up and leave."

"DK's right," Samus said. "We'll just have to stay on our guard until Magolor finishes his errand. Maybe we can even learn something about the next Vassal's whereabouts in the process."

Mario nodded. "Sounds a-good."

Shortly thereafter, Magolor returned with a stack of refrigerated strawberry shortcakes, which was an immediate hit among the hungry heroes.

* * *

 **? ? ? ? ? ? ?**

* * *

 _"Sora, c'mon! We're gonna leave without you!"_

 _"Wait; I'm coming!"_

 _Sora ran down the beach and jumped onto the makeshift raft just as Riku pushed off the shallows with a long stick. The simplistic vessel was composed of about a dozen logs split in half and lashed together with twine, and a single white sail fluttering slightly in the soft breeze. The raft tilted down with the added weight and then rocked back up as Riku moved to the other side to balance it out, and Kairi offered Sora her hand to pull him back to his feet. All three of them were laughing, reveling in the thrill of the_ Highwind _'s maiden voyage off the coast of the Destiny Islands._

 _"Next time you're late, Sora, I'm just gonna push you back off," Riku jested. His silver eyes twinkled in conjunction with his silver shoulder-length hair, his lean but muscular body balanced easily with one hand on the mast, the corner of his mouth turned up with boyish mirth._

 _"Oh, Riku." Kairi giggled. "If you push Sora off, then I'll push you off next. And then I'll get to explore the other worlds all by myself."_

 _Sora always had to fight getting lost in Kairi's crystalline, placid cerulean eyes, her angelic features and short rose-red hair. Though she was still twelve years old like him and Riku, there was a kind of profound maturity intermingling with her childlike innocence, something magical and impossible to grasp._

 _"So, 'captain,'" Riku said, "where to?"_

 _"Uh…" Sora looked out on the endless horizon, the high sun reflecting off the water like a divine visitation. The only other feature was the faded form of the heart-shaped moon that stood out dimly against the bright sky. Neither he nor Riku had ever left the Destiny Islands, and Kairi had been brought here as an infant. They had no knowledge of what lay beyond the island. Just ocean._

 _"Sora, why didn't you save us?" Kairi said._

 _"Just give me a minute, guys, and I'll…" Sora's voice trailed off as he registered what Kairi had just said. "What?"_

 _"You let him kill us," Riku said, shaking his head ruefully. "Some hero. We all trusted your heart to be strong enough to stop him, but apparently it just wasn't enough. You failed."_

 _Contradicting memories were now tearing at Sora's consciousness from different angles, threatening to rip his reality apart. He held his head, shaking from confusion. "No…I did my best. I tried…"_

 _"It didn't matter, though, did it?" Kairi said softly. Eerily. "In the end, Xehanort put an end to our existence. To our universe's existence. Except for you. You somehow got away, even though of all the Keyblade Wielders, you were the one person who could've saved us…"_

 _"I…I'm sorry," was all Sora could say. The internal anguish; the guilt; it was more than he could bear. "Just give me another chance, and I'll do it right this time."_

 _"No you won't, boy."_

 _Suddenly, Xehanort was on the raft with them, beside Riku. But neither Riku nor Kairi seemed to be aware of his presence. His eyes bore into Sora with a languid, merciless pity._

 _"You will fail Nintendo and the Smash Universe and all your new friends, just as you have everyone who has ever been important to you. Because in spite of everything you've done, your heart will never be stronger than the darkness. You will be consumed with This World. And if you are not…if Master Hand snatches you to safety like he did in the Keyblade Graveyard…then I will leave This World to its own oblivion, and I will follow you to the next universe. And the next. And the next. Raining True Death upon every universe until I find you, curled up in the last corner of the last of all worlds, and I will usher in the true Final Destination upon you and those who banished me from their creative ranks. Everything will be gone, and judged, and Converged. And it will be your fault, Sora. Yours."_

 _Sora was speechless._

 _Then Kairi's eyes turned pleadingly to him. She took his hand. "Sora, will you jump into the ocean with me? So we can both sink to the bottom of the world together, and go into the True Death in peace? Will you, Sora?"_

 _"Sora?"_

"Sora?"

Again, it was Yoshi who had woken Sora from his dream, this time with Kirby standing beside him as well. Both of them were watching him in the hospital room of the Citadel with a strangely knowing concern, for they had each had similarly haunting dreams themselves.

But had it been a dream? Sora wondered. This one had felt so vivid, so real. Maybe it was a memory, or some combination of what he remembered and what he wanted. And feared.

"I'm…I'm okay," he managed. He blinked. The last thing he remembered was piercing the Mystic with his Keyblade. Everything after that was a blank. "What happened? After we stopped the Mystic?"

"You fainted," Yoshi said. "The rest of Microsoft and the RareWare Islands were purged with the Mystic's death, but a bunch of flying saucers abducted about half of us before we could get out. Mario, DK, Ness, Pikachu, Samus…they're gone. And Jigglypuff's stuck as a statue."

Sora felt his heart drop, unsure what to say. That was a very mixed bag of news. He looked around him and was baffled by the view through the window: a city whose ground curved in a concave slope that met at a sudden artificial horizon. He could faintly see a steel skeleton undergirding the synthetic sky.

"Um…where are we?"

"The Citadel," Yoshi said. "A lot's been happening the past few days. We're meeting here in this floating station above Eden Prime before we head out on the _Normandy_ to keep looking for the other Vassals. Pit hasn't been answering our calls, so we're just gonna have to go out and search for the Vassals and the rest of the Twelve."

Suddenly, Sora felt a renewed burst of strength. The Mystic tampering with his heart's magic had made his recovery take much longer than the rest, and even when he'd awoken, he still didn't feel quite as strong as he had been before. But now, knowing he had been asleep for so long, he felt impelled to get moving and make up for lost time. He sat up and threw off his sheets. "Okay. I'm ready when you guys are."

"Space!" Kirby cheered.

* * *

There were multiple obstacles that had to be overcome before the Smashers began their voyage into the "Final Frontier." Once the recently purged worlds had been set in order and Master Chief's fallen comrades properly memorialized, there was the question of what to do next. As Yoshi had explained, they had tried dropping Skyworld stones into water to contact Pit, but without success. This meant they would just have to go off of what they already knew.

Gathering in the courtroom where Master Chief had once been judged and L.O.G. had revealed his true colors, most of the Sentinels had congregated with the remaining Smashers: Yoshi, Kirby, Luigi, Zelda, and Red. The option of returning to Nintendo to finish off its Vassals had been proposed, but most felt that the risk of running into Xehanort was too great. And in any case, they were still taking Madame Clairvoya's prophecy about the Twelve seriously; if their interpretation was accurate, then they would need to find Fox McCloud and someone to fill Captain Falcon's place, perhaps Jody Summer, in addition to their abducted friends.

It was known that the Starmen were connected to Giygas and had invaded Ness's home planet of Earth in the past, so they would make that their starting point. Commander Shepard had volunteered his crew and the _Normandy_ to ferry the Smashers across the next vast leg of their journey. And so the crew preparing to depart from the Citadel included Sora and the remaining Smashers, Commander Shepard, the dark-matter-controlling Biotic Ashley Williams, the robot Legion, Master Chief, and an assortment of Spartans and Edenese astronauts.

The day after Sora's return to consciousness, the Earth-bound _Normandy_ was docked at the Citadel's central Presidium Ring, a special set of transparent airlocks designed to open and guide the ship out. Many had come to see the Smashers off—Marcus Fenix and Ryu Hayabusa; MechWarrior and Jak Wynand; Roland, Mordecai, and Lilith (who was now fitted with a robotic leg); Joanna Dark and Berri; Kameo (who was nurturing a missing arm); Banjo  & Kazooie and Dixie Kong; and even Rocketman, since Atari Island had been purged along with the other islands.

They and many Edenese spectators waved and cheered from the hangar as the _Normandy_ 's noise grew to a deafening roar, flames raging from the engines in the back, and it slowly lifted and entered each of the three airlocks before finally coming out into the open atmosphere.

On the bridge of the ship, the Smashers and other crew watched as they sped up through the clouds into the higher atmosphere, rapidly nearing outer space.

Commander Shepard grinned at Luigi. "How's that Omni-Tool working out for you?"

Luigi played with the dial on the high-tech, translucent orange contraption strapped to his wrist, appreciating the blade end, the flashlight, the shield, and the vacuum nozzle that had been fitted especially for him. There was even a pizza cutter somewhere in there. He was still a little bitter that Shepard had made up the whole "DNA-wired" bit, but since the commander had seen Luigi in action in Cloud Cuckoo Land, Luigi had earned his trust, and with that, his Omni-Tool.

"It's the best," he said, returning Shepard's smile.

Shepard nodded, then his expression turned serious and he leaned close. "Good. There's something I want you know. While the Heartless ran rampant in Eden Prime…well, let's just say that I'm not exactly the hardest person to corrupt. All of Eden Prime suffered the past three years because the Renegade within me took control in all his cruelty. That's part of why I want you to have the Omni-Tool—as a reminder that any power brings with it the potential for good or evil use. There's a Paragon and a Renegade within all of us, and if you and the Smash Brothers are gonna get through all this with your souls intact, you'll have to learn to control them both."

"Uh…okay. Thanks," Luigi said, taken aback by the commander's sudden openness about his personal life. Everything he had seen of the Heartless Microsoft had made him feel a little better about his less-than-lawful exploits with Prince Peasley in the Beanbean Kingdom—though the purging of his heart had not entirely erased the shadow of resentment toward his brother which the Heartless had drawn out. Mario may have almost killed Sonic…but he, Luigi, had almost failed to recognize his own darkness at all.

As the _Normandy_ ascended, Red was speechless, rather terrified of his first space voyage, not to mention still burdened with worry for Jigglypuff. Was there no way to undo the Mystic's magic? Would Jigglypuff be made of stone forever? And would that foil Madame Clairvoya's prophecy about the Twelve? Nothing anyone tried had helped—Humba's Totem Brew; the Isle o' Hags' Jiggies; not even Zelda's Triforce magic.

He looked over at Kirby, who for once was not cheering at the prospect of adventure. If anyone could sympathize with Red's feelings, it was him; after Cloud Cuckoo Land, the puffball had spent hours with the petrified Jigglypuff, poking her curiously at first like a child who didn't understand serious matters, then becoming glummer as time went on and he realized that she wasn't going to change back anytime soon.

Master Chief stood next to Zelda, the flashing lights of the ship shining pensively off his amber visor. "You've never been beyond the planet, have you?"

"I have not," Zelda said, though she had been preoccupied with thoughts of Link, and of Ganondorf.

"A word of advice: Just like your Hyrule or Solid Snake's Sony or Banjo's RareWare each has its own magic, space has its own set of rules. Out here, you and your friends can't just rely on your magic and brute strength; you have to become one with the technology, with the machines, because that's all that's keeping you alive at any given moment."

Zelda nodded. "I'll remember that."

Master Chief glanced at the other Smashers, then turned back to Zelda. "Most of you are very young for a voyage like this. So be prepared for terrifying moments when you'll have to step forward and act braver than you feel. That's one of the secrets to being a good soldier, and a great leader."

Ashley Williams, with sleek black hair and an unsettling energy behind her otherwise normal features, sat beside Legion as they navigated the _Normandy_. She glanced between her screen and the window looking out into the cloud-saturated air.

"We're now reaching the upper stratosphere, elevation 45 kilometers," she reported.

Legion, whose robotic head consisted of a single bright bulb—presumably an "eye"—with the armor around it resembling a hood, entered in a number of commands. Half of the AI's internal circuitry was exposed, metal tubes snaking their way in and out of its chest and along its armored limbs. It wasn't really capable of expressing emotion, but the way its bulb was flashing seemed a little distressed.

"There is a problem," it said. "The mesosphere is indicating a layer of extreme pressure whose calculations do not comply with scientific reason. It is as if there is some kind of super barrier which will destroy us if we proceed further. We must turn back."

A slight panic of muttering voices erupted among the crew, and sure enough, seconds later, an emergency siren was wailing, sounding the cry of a proximity alarm. Something bad was going to happen.

Commander Shepard furrowed his brow, trying to work it out. "Reverse thrusters," he said finally. "I think I know the problem."

The Smashers watched fearfully as the astronauts caused the _Normandy_ to come to a near halt and then to begin pushing itself backward, bridling the pull of gravity as it slowly descended.

Master Chief shared a glance with Shepard and nodded. He turned to the Smashers. "I was afraid this might happen. Although the commander and I are at home in space, Xehanort has placed a barrier prohibiting us from leaving the outer atmosphere of Smash Planet."

"Uh…" Luigi blinked. "So we go home? We can't fly this a-ship ourselves."

Shepard shook his head. "No. If we land now it will take another few days to prep for another launch. Your friends out there need you now. The Chief and I will accompany our crew to the escape pods, and Legion will remain with you to pilot the _Normandy_. As an AI, he should be immune to the Heartless barriers, and he can control the entire ship using his networked programming."

"It's settled, then." Master Chief turned to the crew. "Let's ship out, soldiers. Our mission must be aborted for theirs to go on."

On the Chief's command, the astronauts and Spartans stood and began hurrying away to gather their belongings and load the escape pods. Before they left the bridge, Shepard and the Chief paused to look at the Smashers one last time. Master Chief turned to Sora.

"Good luck, soldier. And guard that heart of yours; it is the heart of a champion."

And then they were gone, leaving Sora and the five Smash Brothers with Legion. The robot didn't even turn to acknowledge them, but watched its screen keenly as the humans loaded themselves into the pods. As soon as they had all detached, Legion's eye pulsed and took control of the entire ship.

"Resuming forward thrusters," it said, and the _Normandy_ shot forward once again, leaving the rest of the Microsians behind—along with Smash Planet.

* * *

 **Lor Starcutter**

* * *

"You okay, kid?"

Samus joined Ness on the Skydeck as they watched a spattering of golden stars scroll by. Magolor had left the vessel on autopilot, so they were alone. And that had made the Skydeck a good place for Ness to think.

Ness blinked from staring at the stars, allowing their bright pinpricks to burn themselves into his retinas. "Yeah…it's just…being out here…it's been so long since I've been home, you know? Off of Smash Planet?"

Samus nodded. "Xehanort subjected us to a life that in a way was even worse than the others': a life displaced from where we belong. As much as I like Snake…as much as I've found fulfillment in helping the Smash Brothers…the Galactic Federation has always been my first responsibility. But during the Space Pirate War, I abandoned it in its time of need to give Smash Planet its best chance for lasting peace. And I don't regret it…but I can't help wondering whether if I'd been there, I might've been able to stop the guild of bounty hunters from turning against each other so violently. It's still a mystery I haven't quite made sense of, just like I never figured out what happened to Falcon's enemy, Black Shadow."

Ness didn't know too much about the drama of the Space Pirate War, but there was one part of Samus's response that resonated with him. "I guess we do belong where we originally came from, don't we? I don't even know what's happened to Earth—Paula, Jeff, Poo, Dr. Andonuts…and since those Starmen swooped down and snatched us, I've been even more worried. If I could be such a bully under the Heartless, then I don't want to think about what my friends have become."

Samus had been about to respond, but then an approaching commotion came from below deck, and Magolor floated up onto the Skydeck (he lacked legs), followed by Mario, DK, and Pikachu.

"…and that's why you should never let Kirby swallow a Cutter enemy and a Needle enemy at the same time," he finished, then turned to Ness and Samus. "Oh…sorry, guys! I was just telling the rest about some of the Star Warrior's more obscure Copy Abilities. Snare Kirby…" He shook his head and shuddered. "Mind-scarring. Anyway, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I couldn't help overhearing you mention Xehanort." He glanced back at the small trail of sparkling smoke left behind by the _Starcutter_. "You don't think he's following us, do you?"

DK, who seemed to have been pleasantly diverted by Magolor's Kirby stories, looked slightly annoyed by the grim change of subject. "There's no way; outer space is too big even for _him_ to find us that fast. If you've managed to avoid him for three years, then I'm pretty sure we'll be safe for a few days."

Magolor sighed in relief. "Good to hear. Sorry; that name just sends shivers up my…anyway, if you guys don't mind my asking, why are you all so keen on returning to Smash Planet? That's like jumping into a den of lions."

There was an awkward moment as Mario exchanged an uncertain glance with the others. After a cautious pause, he shrugged and said, "Our friends are back a-there. And we're a-gonna take Xehanort down."

Magolor blinked uncomprehendingly, as if the plumber had just told an unfunny joke. "Wait…are you serious? I've been assuming this whole time you guys were just nomadic survivors like me, trying to stay sane in This Heartless World. Going up against that guy would be suicide! Unless…" Realization dawned on him. "You're after the Vassals, aren't you?"

"Pika?" Pikachu asked.

"Of course I know about them," Magolor said. "Everywhere I go, the natives are always in fear of some Vassal or another—the Heir of Lylat; the Unknowable; the Voyager…"

"The Voyager?" DK said, remembering his time in Dyna Blade's nest. "That's the one who's supposed to be over Dreamland. You know who he is?"

Magolor blinked. "Well, of course I do; Everyone does. He's one of Kirby's oldest enemies—a being called Marx. Tends to drop in on Popstar every once in a while, too, but unless you've got some serious ammunition in your pockets, I wouldn't advise picking a fight with him either. He's about as predictable as Kirby's random bursts of galactic wisdom."

"Chu," Pikachu said, which was his way of saying, "So he does that to you too."

The other Smashers exchanged glances. Then Mario turned to Magolor. "We can't a-stop him ourselves; but one of our friends can."

Magolor looked even more curious. "Really? Well, in that case, let's hop over to Popstar real fast; that way we can go back and get your friend, and teach that crazy jester a lesson. I miss my home as much as you guys miss yours, and if going toe to toe with the Heartless is what it takes, then I'm in."

Samus and Ness nodded to each other.

"Okay," they both said.

* * *

 **Normandy**

* * *

They had been on the _Normandy_ for less than a day, yet already several of the Smashers were feeling queasy from space travel. Artificial gravity took some getting used to, and Kirby, Sora, and Legion were really the only ones with significant experience in galactic voyaging.

Soon, they fell into natural groups as they quietly watched the universe unfold before them—Luigi and Yoshi; Kirby and Red (now united in their concern for Jigglypuff); and Sora and Zelda more or less keeping to themselves, lost in thought about all they had lost. And Legion wasn't exactly one for small talk either.

So when he finally spoke up after hours of silent flight, he immediately gained everyone's attention.

"We are approximately 27.986% of the way to Earth," he reported. "Now we are about to pass through the remains of what the people of Eden Prime once called Arcturus Station—the onetime naval headquarters of the Systems Alliance parliament, viciously destroyed by the Reapers before Wizpig caused the Reapers' extinction."

Sora watched with wide eyes as they entered what he would have otherwise assumed was an asteroid field had Legion not explained it. Instead of floating chunks of astral rock, they began passing between floating chunks of sophisticated metal, with well-crafted grooves and segments and even some stray wires that betrayed their secret: They had once been part of a greater, glorious whole.

Sora felt a pang of sympathy for the thousands of people that must have died in the attack—even though he had never known any of them. It was as if these shattered fragments represented his own shattered soul, his broken dreams that Xehanort had so ruthlessly ripped to shreds. Now, all that remained were these sad, lifeless remnants, which weren't even a shadow of their former glory.

"Huh?" Sora perked up. He could have sworn he'd just seen something fly between two of the larger space station pieces.

"What's that?" Yoshi asked, joining him in staring down the spot where they had detected movement. The rest of the Smashers soon did the same.

Legion, though still seated at its computer, seemed to detect the anomaly. Its red bulb flashed as it made some adjustments and sent certain commands to the _Normandy_ 's computer mainframe.

"Unknown presence detected," it said. "Warming up laser cannons for potential hostilities."

Then they saw it again—and this time, it didn't disappear behind another chunk. It was a small ship shaped like an arrowhead with white wings, blue fins, and a tiny cockpit. It was…an Arwing. And it was headed their way.

"It's Fox!" Red said, faintly recognizing the anthropomorphic hero behind the Arwing's controls.

Zelda, however, still looked tense. "If it's him, then he may intend hostilities all the same." She looked at Legion. "Do you have the new laser prepped?"

"Target acquired," was Legion's response. And then he fired the twin pink lasers—lasers which channeled Humba Wumba's Totem Brew into a harmless, purging blast.

But the Arwing Barrel-Rolled away from the shot, and then a staticky but somewhat familiar voice came over the _Normandy_ 's speakers.

"Hold your fire! I'm already free from the Heartless. Requesting permission to board."

The Smashers looked at each other, then at Sora, as if he would know whether they could trust Fox's claim.

Sora considered it for a moment. "He doesn't _sound_ like the Heartless've got him."

"Neither did the fake Cipher," Red pointed out.

"True," Sora said. "But we can have Totem Brew handguns pointed at him the moment he steps out. I don't think Xehanort would have him suicide bomb us; he wouldn't want to end us so quickly."

Zelda looked like she was about to object, but after a moment, nodded. She turned to Legion. "Let him in."

"Opening docking bay," Legion said as outside the _Normandy_ , a hatch slid open into the fairly small docking bay, considering the space shuttle wasn't the biggest fish in the sea, astronomically speaking.

They grew tense as the Arwing flew past the bridge and came back around to land inside.

"Go and meet him," Legion said without even turning its head. "I will maintain the ship's course and watch the proceedings from here."

Kirby, driven by pure, unadulterated curiosity, led them out of the bridge and down the sleek whitewashed hallway and, finally, into the docking bay. As they came in, the Arwing had just touched the ground, the hatch above sliding shut, the Arwing's engines shutting off. With the sound of decompressing air, the cockpit lifted open, and its pilot slowly sat up, unstrapped himself, and climbed out, watching the Smashers with a strange fixedness all the while.

"Fox!" Luigi cried in delight. His grin faltered. "Uh…what's a-with the sunglasses?"

And indeed, the fox's eyes were concealed by large sunglasses that made him seem unusually serious. He just stood and stared at each of them for a while, and finally spoke. But it was not the voice they had expected; it was a bit deeper, more seasoned, more mature.

"I'm James McCloud," he said, "and I need your help to find my son."

* * *

 **Lor Starcutter**

* * *

"There it is!" Magolor announced on the Skydeck. "That's Popstar, everyone. Welcome to Kirby's old stomping grounds."

"I thought he was from Dreamland," Ness said, confused.

Magolor nodded. "He was. Back when Dreamland was still part of Popstar."

"Wait, what?" DK scratched his head. "So you're saying that part of Popstar blew off and attached itself to Smash Planet?"

Magolor shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not quite sure how it happened, or how long ago. I guess that's one of the memories L.O.G. erased from our history. But I'd imagine it's something similar to _your_ home, Ness; after all, as I understand it, Fourside used to be an Earth city."

"Huh." Ness honestly couldn't remember anything about that; as far as he knew, Fourside City was just the conglomerate megalopolis where the Smash Brothers had come together for the first time, and where tournaments and many other events had taken place.

"Anyway," Magolor continued as the _Lor Starcutter_ approached the small planet shaped like a golden star with two intersecting rainbow rings circling around it, "This shouldn't take long. We've just gotta drop by Castle Lololo on the Illusion Islands to drop off these Invincibility Candies and Maxim Tomatoes, and then we'll be on our way back to Smash Planet."

No one objected, so he steered the _Starcutter_ closer to the planet, whose shining surface, upon closer inspection, gave way to colorful continents and shining seas—a dream land if they had ever seen one. The shining atmosphere, rather than having clouds, was just a brilliant yellow light that was almost blinding.

"Now I get why Kirby's so hungry all the time," DK muttered, shielding his eyes. "He's had life served to him on a silver platter."

Eventually, they passed through the yellow light and came out over a curious scene. Suddenly, it was somehow nighttime, the sky speckled with abnormally round lavender clouds. A dark indigo ocean stretched out below them, broken up by several tiny islands that were populated by wonky violet and magenta trees which were reminiscent of Rayman's Dream Forest. And perched on one of the islands was a tall cylindrical castle, wrought of stone with white-striped columns holding up the corners.

"It's beautiful," Samus said. And that wasn't typical of her at all. But the view really was quite spectacular, serene and otherworldly, the yellow light above reflecting faintly off the waters.

Magolor turned to the Smashers, looking particularly at Mario. The Halcandran seemed hesitant. "Before we go down there, there's something you should know." He averted his eyes. "I…haven't been completely honest with you about my relationship with Kirby."

Mario raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.

"You see, well…you know how I said Kirby and I worked together to stop the Master Crown? What actually happened was…he stopped _me_ from using it. I manipulated him into gathering the pieces for me so I could control its power for myself. I've been branded an enemy of Popstar ever since, and even though I've reformed my ways, people down there won't exactly treat me like a friendly dignitary."

The Smashers weren't sure what to say.

"Chu-pika-chu?" Pikachu asked, which meant, "What made you change?"

Magolor seemed to understand the Pokémon perfectly well. "There are many special things about Kirby," he said. "You all know that as well as anyone. But one of his most unique traits is his ability to open hearts by virtue of being his own innocent, childlike self. Not from the Heartless, obviously…but for someone like me, who was so sure I knew what I wanted, losing to Kirby not only compelled me into humility, but it was the beginning of a reshaping of who I was. And if there really is a chance you Smash Brothers will ever beat Xehanort…it's people like that who'll win the day."

Mario nodded, and smiled. "That's a-true. Now, let's a-go down."

* * *

 **Normandy**

* * *

"You're Fox's dad?" Red said, incredulous. He and the other Smashers who knew a little about Fox's history were shocked. "But…you're supposed to be dead; killed by that Andross guy."

James McCloud nodded. "Your doubts are reasonable. And it's a long, unusual story. But for now, let's just say…it's complicated. What matters is I'm here now; what I've been through has made me immune to the Heartless; and your current heading…is the wrong one."

That was a lot to swallow.

"How can we trust you?" Sora said, thinking of how many times they had been duped already.

"Those guns," James said, pointing to the weapon in Luigi's hand. "They're Heart Softeners, aren't they? If it would make you feel better, then, go ahead and shoot me. Just to make sure." He raised his arms, leaving himself vulnerable.

Luigi hesitated, but at the nods of the others, he gripped the gun as steadily he could, pointed it at the fox's chest, and fired.

The pink energy absorbed into James's body, but nothing seemed to change. James smiled ever so slightly.

"Are we good now?"

"Yeah, I think so," Yoshi said.

"Right. Now that I have at least a little of your trust, I owe you an explanation. You see, in my travels, I have gained knowledge of certain things as they were, as they are, and as they may soon become. I don't know where your missing friends are, but I do have a very strong feeling that before you find them, you will need to bring Star Fox back together. Great dangers await you in deep space, and you will need Lylat's finest if you hope to survive."

Zelda looked uncertain. "But every moment we delay, our friends could be turned Heartless again…or worse. As much as we hope for your son's well-being, we cannot afford to be sidetracked."

"To be fair, Fox _is_ part of the Twelve; we'll need to find him at some point anyway," Red said, though at the moment he could only think of his own long-missing father, and how Quentin had come initially as a friend, but eventually as a genocidal sociopath. Then he looked at Kirby. "What do you think?"

Without hesitating, Kirby pointed a stubby arm at James McCloud and said brightly, "Good!"

Luigi, however, still had doubts. Mario was out there, and in danger. "How can you a-know our friends are all a-right?"

James's sunglasses flashed knowingly. "Again, it's hard to explain. Impossible, even. But I can tell you this: The Hand of Fate is very invested in your future, Smash Brothers. And it won't allow you to stray so far that it grows too late—either for your friends, or for the Smash Universe. In any case, you wouldn't have found them on Earth even if you'd gone there; that much I know, because I was there not long ago, and there were no Vassals to be found."

It wasn't James's fragmented logic that finally convinced Sora. It was something about him—an ethereal wisdom that made him seem not quite mortal, and also afforded him an aura that was very benign. He reminded Sora a lot of Ansem the Wise—the real one, not Xehanort's Heartless posing as him. The man had been wise beyond Sora's understanding, and he had always exuded a similarly benign aura. He nodded.

"Okay; where to first? Commander Shepard told us the _Normandy_ can't jump to hyperspeed."

James led them over to a small window in the docking bay and pointed at a strange vortex of swirling purple energy. Somehow, in the excitement of meeting their new passenger, the Smashers had failed to notice it.

"You see that wormhole?"

"Yeah," Luigi said, afraid he wasn't going to like what the Cornerian said next. And he was right.

"Take it."


	26. Chapter 19: Fallen Stars (2)

**Katina**

 **Lylat System**

* * *

The journey through the sketchy space phenomenon was surprisingly smooth—a little turbulent, but almost as easy as stepping through one of Gadd's portals. When they came out, the constellations had all changed, but to most of them, that mattered little. Space was…space.

What did catch their attention was the looming planet below them. It was a dull, reddish-brown with dirty wisps of atmosphere swirling over its surface.

"Good thing DK isn't here," Red said, thinking of the Kong's aversion to excessive desert regions.

Yoshi turned to James. "How exactly do you know we need to come here, again?"

Rather than answer, the pilot directed his gaze to Kirby, who nodded.

"Katina," Kirby confirmed.

"Great," Luigi said, baffled as always by unexplained knowledge from the Universe. "Now there are a-two of them."

Legion directed the _Normandy_ in a straight descent into Katina's flimsy atmosphere, expertly managing its navigation so that it never lost control due to speed or atmospheric changes. Still, it was always a bumpy ride when there was suddenly air resistance where there hadn't been before. Red's blimp-flying experience didn't quite acclimate him to astral reentries.

They slowed down and leveled out as they came within a thousand feet of the planet's surface, which was like a giant Kansas covered in red sand, the occasional sedimentary gust blowing by.

"Mind if I take the helm?" James McCloud asked Legion before anyone could ask how they would search an entire planet for Star Fox. Legion's red bulb blinked in acknowledgement, and it stood and abdicated the steering mechanisms. James took the seat and began steering it as easily as an Arwing, heading in a very specific direction at maximum speed.

As they passed across Katina, the only landmarks were small pyramids dotting the landscape here and there. James explained that they were remnants of an earlier race which no longer inhabited the planet. Andross had wiped out what was left of the indigenes during the Lylat Wars.

After an hour or so, they finally came upon something out of the ordinary. It was a large white vessel stationed in the middle of nowhere, its recognizable fins and red vulpine decal giving it away.

"The Great Fox!" Red said, recognizing the ship that had once saved him and other Smashers from one of Master Hand's attacks in Saffron City. "But…what's it doing down there?"

"We're about to find out," James said, and turned to Legion. "Open fire with your special laser."

Legion inclined its head ever so slightly, and caused the _Normandy_ to remotely draw its modified twin lasers and eject several bursts of Totem Brew at the Great Fox. It shuddered from the impact, but absorbed the blast like a sponge.

It was a relief to the Smashers—particularly Yoshi, who had witnessed every single purging since Link had returned from Koholint Island—not to have to deal with a Heartless Star Fox team, as interesting as that might have been. Within a couple minutes, the _Normandy_ was landing not far from the Great Fox, and Zelda, Luigi, Red, Sora, James, and even Yoshi were fitted with their custom-made space outfits, complete with fishbowl helmets and heavily insulated jumpsuits (Yoshi's had space for his tail, while Kirby could survive in foreign atmospheres already). Though the Heart Softener had surely done its work, they were apprehensive as they disembarked down the exit ramp, unsure what they would find.

Nothing about the Great Fox changed; no one came out, nor did the ship start its engines. So they were forced to approach it and wonder how they would get inside. Even James held back; he seemed rather stupefied by the sight of his old spacecraft, lost in memories of the original Star Fox Team, and perhaps even a bit hesitant to see his son after his long absence.

"I've a-got this," Luigi said, stepping up to the closed hatch at the front where the hangar would be. He turned the dial of his Omni-Tool until the orange projection on his wrist resembled a walkie-talkie.

"Uh…open the Great a-Fox for us."

Rather than relay that message to whomever was inside, the Omni-Tool took the liberty of cutting out the middle man and caused the Great Fox's system to respond directly. The hatch slid open, showing them into the brightly lit hangar with several sleek Arwings and a couple Landmaster tanks stored inside. The Great Fox itself was significantly larger than the _Normandy_ , so wandering inside unannounced was a bit of an intimidating prospect for most of the Smashers.

As was occurring increasingly often, Kirby was the one to take the first step forward, his eyes wide as he admired the high-tech gadgetry of each ship and tank, as well as the…video cameras? A range of tripods and dolly-borne and wall-mounted cameras were arrayed throughout the hangar along with motion picture-caliber lighting booms and even a couple green screens, as if the entire place were a film set.

"Um, guys? Looks like we've got visitors."

The speaker was not any of the newcomers, but a pink anthropomorphic rabbit in a yellow jumpsuit who had just walked into the hangar. She was soon followed by a gray bulldog in a green Cornerian pilot's suit (also anthropomorphic), his eyes shaded by his helmet visor, but his demeanor very laid back.

"Holy Fichina! It's the Smash Brothers…and that kid Sora everyone used to talk about."

Then two more came after—Peppy Hare and Fox McCloud. All four looked perplexed both by their recently opened hearts and their unexpected guests. But Fox was the first to react, rushing past his comrade, Bill Grey, and Peppy's astrophysicist daughter, Lucy, to greet the heroes.

"Guys; you made it! Whatever that stuff you shot us with was…it worked." He looked like he hadn't had a decent conversation with anyone outside the Great Fox in years, starved for social interaction. A million questions buzzed in his head. But the first to make its way out of his mouth was, "How did you find us?"  
That was when the Smashers' newest party member chose to emerge from behind the rest, looking Fox straight in the eye.

Peppy had to remove his glasses, wipe them clean with his sleeve, and replace them on his wizened face. "Well, dad-gum…"

Fox, however, was unable to speak, having experienced one strange surprise too many. He was frozen.

"Hello, son," James said. It was a paralytic moment for both of them. "It's me."

Then Fox unexpectedly drew his blaster and aimed it at his father's head, a manic denial heating his eyes. "You're not him. I've been tricked before—those Boos in the Twilight Forest…the Aparoid Queen imitating his voice…You're dead. An apparition. Nothing I do or hope for can change that. So whatever you are, get lost."

"Please," James said, his creased brow pleading in place of his hidden eyes. "Let me explain."

Peppy stepped forward and put a hand on Fox's shoulder. "He's brought your friends this far, Fox," he said. "I say we give 'em a chance."

Fox said nothing for a long moment, then, slowly, nodded.

* * *

"You are right to be suspicious." James tilted his sunglasses down, peering at Fox through midnight blue eyes as they sat in the command center of the grounded Great Fox. They were alone except for Peppy, the rest of the Smashers touring the ship with Lucy and Bill. "By all accounts, I should be dead. On that fateful mission to Venom…when Pigma betrayed us and Peppy barely escaped…Andross took me captive. He tortured me; subjected me to his vile experiments for years. Until one day, he was full of wrath because you and your team had bested his forces on Macbeth and were heading for him, systematically dismantling both his armies and his plans for Lylat. So he…took his rage out on me, and in his anger, subjected me to a dark matter experiment that all but destroyed me.

"I was gone. Dead to the world. Nothing more than a smeared consciousness drifting through the universe, through the space between spaces. I wandered into all kinds of strange dimensions—some with people made of pixels, or of paper; some with giant vacuum monsters; even one with flying whales.

"But then I got a glimpse back into Lylat. You had just defeated Andross's core intelligence, his brain, and Venom's tunnel systems were collapsing around you. You were going to die. I was able to appear to you for just a short time, to guide you out to the surface, to safety.

"And yet, soon after, my immaterial body was sucked into other dimensions again, and so I went on for years, ever viewing strange dimensions, never able to stay in one place for more than a few minutes. It was a wearisome existence, and very nearly a pointless one, but I was no longer mortal. I couldn't have put an end to my life even if I'd wanted to.

"Then I saw you and your team face the Anglars. I managed to return to Lylat just long enough to help you take down their emperor, but was again lost to space before I could say more than a few words. I received random messages from the Universe, or the Hand of Fate, or whatever omniscient presence that was able to keep up with me wherever I went. I don't fully understand it; I just feel the truth of the information I receive. That's how I knew that the Smash Brothers needed to come here, to find you."

"So…how're you still here now, James?" Peppy asked.

James McCloud looked uncertain. " _That_ I'm not sure about…but I suspect that it has something to do with the Great Convergence. I suspect when Xehanort came and ushered in the Heartless, he helped catalyze events which will lead to his 'Final Judgment' that he's so obsessed about. And one of the unintended results of these events seems to have anchored my essence to This World once again."

"Huh." Fox was still at a loss. His father's explanation made a strange kind of sense; it felt right, even. Somehow, he'd always felt deep down that his father wasn't truly gone; he'd just never considered that James McCloud had literally saved him twice rather than merely serving as a spiritual guide in his mind.

"I can't say I understand all of that real well," Peppy said, and his voice was almost choking with emotion. "But James, you're back now, and for real, and for me that's all that matters. Now tell us how we can help the Smash Brothers put an end to Xehanort's meddlin' once and for all."

* * *

It wasn't just the hangar that had been filled with film equipment; every part of the Great Fox was set up like a Star Trek episode. Everything from the hangar to the living quarters to the engine rooms and command center was perfectly in place. And Lucy and Bill seemed to take an inordinate amount of pleasure in explaining why.

"You fellas have no idea what Fox was like under the Heartless," Bill said, chuckling, as they began heading up to the command center to meet with Fox, James, and Peppy. "He's kind of an attention hog—he likes his limelight a little too much, to the point that he actually made Luce and Pep and I become his own personal film crew. We made a daily documentary of his reckless space adventures and broadcasted his show to the rest of Lylat."

"So…why's the Great Fox grounded here if he's been having all these crazy adventures?" Red asked.

Lucy smirked. "He hasn't; we've just been stuck here for years, pretending to be part of his ludicrous episodes so he could get lots of attention without doing any actual work. I had to play his nerdy love interest, while my dad was the cinematographer."

"And I was his goofy, less competent sidekick," Bill added.

"You both sound a little bitter about it," Yoshi said.

Bill laughed again. "Well, don't get me wrong; Fox is one of my best friends from the academy. I respect him a ton. So that makes it okay for me to talk about all his problems."

"Right," Sora passive-aggressively disagreed.

* * *

"We'd love to help y'all track down your friends and get the team back together," Peppy said as they met in the command center. "But, uh, there's a bit of a snag in that proposal. See, we're not gonna be much good to ya without our Arwings, and we'll need the Great Fox to fit 'em all; your little ship ain't big enough. But the thing is, the Great Fox hasn't been up and runnin' in years, so we'll need to get a mechanic to fix'er up before going anywhere."

"Slippy," Kirby concluded.

Zelda turned to James. "Then you will seek the knowledge to locate him for us?"

Fox laughed. "No need; I've known Slippy for a long time, and if he's not with Star Fox, there's only one place he could be. I've been to the island a couple times."

"Island?" Luigi said.

* * *

 **Zoness**

 **Lylat System**

* * *

Endless ocean—or nearly so. Zoness's vast waters were tinged with the yellow-green light of the sky, giving it a kind of toxic tranquility. It had been largely cleansed from the polluted waste Andross's forces had poured into its waters, but a small residue still remained—hence the strange sky color. As the _Normandy_ zoomed across the seas with its two newest passengers in tow (Lucy and Bill had agreed to stay behind to watch the Great Fox), Fox couldn't help but reminisce about the adventures Team Star Fox had had here. The bonds they had shared; the enemies they had conquered; not to mention the terrifying giant mollusk creature he'd taken down in Star Fox's little-known deep-sea vessel, the Blue Marine. (Or had that been on Aquas? His memory was still rattled from both L.O.G. and the Heartless.) So much had changed since then as they had each gone their separate ways—Slippy, and Falco, and Krystal…

He looked again at his father, who was focused on the seascape before them. It was still hard for Fox to believe that James McCloud was alive, that his lifelong idol, his hero and role model, was back in his life. He supposed that was at least one good thing that had come out of all this Heartless business. It was like a missing fragment of his soul had been restored.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he nearly missed their stop amidst the occasional array of metal girders bearing industrial cranes, oil rigs, and other machines that were used to extract the planet's resources. A small cluster of islands shaped roughly like the footprint of a frog were nearly below them.

"That's it!" he said suddenly, startling even the steady-handed Legion. They braked, circled around, and descended toward the tiny land masses, which were covered in sand and palm trees and little else.

Yoshi was about to ask how they would know which island they needed to land on when he spotted, with the rest, the simple island cabana and the two frogs lying out in the sun on beach chairs—one amphibian pudgy and green-skinned, the other slender and hot pink.

"Lazy frogs at four-o'-clock," Fox said, as if he were speaking in code. But in this case, his report was quite literal.

"Shall I give them the treatment?" Legion asked.

"Give them the treatment," James said with a grin.

Down below, Slippy frowned and removed his sunglasses as the silhouette of the _Normandy_ eclipsed the greenish sun. His girlfriend, Amanda, was asleep beside him.

"What the…"

* * *

Five minutes later, Slippy was grumbling on the _Normandy_ 's command bridge, his idle lifestyle ruined by the restored knowledge of his situation. James McCloud's miraculous survival hadn't even registered in his mind yet. Amanda's glum expression beside him seemed to indicate similar feelings.

"You guys could've at least given us some time to get some snacks from the shack before abducting us."

Fox shook his head, trying very hard to suppress a grin. "No time, Slippy; the other Smashers are in big trouble, and we need you to fix up the Great Fox so we can all get them back."

"Wait, Fox." James put a hand on his son's shoulder. Fox didn't react, not at all used to paternal affection. "We must still gather the rest of your team. Where is Falco? And Krystal? I have felt they will all be needed to take on the next Vassal."

"Krystal?" Fox frowned. "She ran off on her own after breaking up with me. Maybe to Sauria, but that place is loaded with more Heartless dinos than a chicken cordon bleu."

"Does that analogy even make sense?" Red asked.

"And as for Falco," Fox continued, "you know how much of a loner he is. He could literally be anywhere."

"Z," Kirby said succinctly.

Fox, Peppy, Slippy, and James all glanced at Kirby in surprise, then back at each other. Fox shrugged.

"He's been right so far."

* * *

 **Sector Z**

 **Lylat System**

* * *

Sector Z was a nebula of bright red stardust, also featuring metal girders, except they were floating in space and looked more like the torn-up skeleton of a skyscraper's scaffolding than industrial docks. Their rusted metal segments and crudely torn edges hinted at the violent history of the space battles that had taken place here during the Lylat Wars—not to mention the armada of missiles that Fox and his friends had had to fend off from making the Great Fox into another of the nebula's dismal decorations.

"Fox, standing by," Fox reported from his Arwing.

"Slippy here!"

"James, standing by."

The two extra Arwings, which they had retrieved from Katina before heading the relatively short distance to Sector Z, flew in a triangle formation together with James's, surrounding the _Normandy_ and scouring the floating wreckage for their feathered friend.

"This place is almost as ugly as Sector X now," James remarked.

"Don't remind me of that place," Slippy said darkly—which, in his high voice, really didn't sound all that dark.

"Seems pretty deserted to me," Peppy said over the communicators from within the _Normandy_. "Are you sure that pink puffball's—"

The twin blasters—coming from two separate ships—rocked the _Normandy_ like a roller coaster simulator. Falco Lombardi's Sky Claw and Katt Monroe's pink Catspaw crossed overhead as they flipped around for another attack.

"Dagnabbit!" Peppy cried, one hand steadying himself against the control panel, the other reaching for his bad back. "Fox—do something!"

"On it!" Fox switched his communicator to broadcast publicly so their ambushers could hear. "Gosh, Falco; I haven't seen an ambush that cowardly since Andrew Oikonny."

Within the Sky Claw, the Heartless Falco narrowed his eyes. "You shouldn't have come here, McCloud. Now you'll pay—for all the glory you've stolen from me. And for that ridiculous sitcom of yours."

"Me- _ow_ ," Katt cooed, reminding some of the Smashers uncomfortably of Samus's behavior when they'd first found her on Shadow Moses Island with Snake. Katt was a loner like Falco who had helped Star Fox on occasion—mostly for the chance to fly near him. "I like the way you talk, Falkie—and the way you—"

But they never did hear what other behavior Katt admired in Falco (nor did they want to), for while Falco and Katt had been focused on Fox, Slippy and James had snuck around and fired their modified blasters, striking and purging both ships.

There was a long silence as they all drifted slowly through Sector Z.

"Falco?" Fox said finally. "You all right?"

"Frick, man," was his only response.

* * *

 **Sargasso Hideout**

 **Lylat System**

* * *

"You really think this'll help us find Krystal?"

Slippy was not the only one with doubts as the _Normandy_ and the Great Fox approached Lylat's most notorious den of thieves—the outlying space station known as Sargasso Hideout.

Falco folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. "You've gotta remember that Krystal's more than just sweetness and sparkles. On the inside, she's got a core of diamond—and some darkness that we got just a taste of during the Anglar Blitz. If the Heartless really do bring out the worst in each of us, I'd bet my primary feathers that she's had run-ins with the less savory sort." He cast a sly, sideways glance at Fox. "How _did_ you two end up calling it off, anyway?"

Fox didn't really want to answer, but he could tell that the rest of his team in the Great Fox—plus Bill, Lucy, Amanda, and Katt—wouldn't let him get away with silence. He sighed.

"You've gotta remember we'd just had our hearts darkened. Even after I turned Dash Bowman down when he asked to join the team, Krystal still felt left out, and I guess we had an argument about her involvement in our missions and she flew away."

"Speaking of missions," Peppy said, "the Smash Brothers seem mighty keen on finding the Vassal in these parts. Do you reckon…"

Fox nodded grimly. "Dash—or the Heir of Lylat, as he's calling himself these days. Only reason he's left me alone is because Xehanort told him to…and my show hasn't exactly been a threat to his exploits."

"Wow, Fox." Falco sniffed. "You really did screw _everything_ up, didn't you?"

"We can point fingers later, Falkie," Katt said, pointing out the windshield of the command center.

"Katt's right, fellas," Bill said, watching as the _Normandy_ accompanied them in their slow approach toward the hideout. "We've got more important things to worry about than past mistakes. Let's find Krystal so we can help these Smashers take down Lylat's latest dictator."

The hideout, floating in the midst of a few stray asteroids, looked like it had once been an enormous brick-red sphere, but three-quarters of it had been torn away, leaving bare gray innards interspersed with veins of that same dark red. The bottom had four enormous thimble-like engines tilted toward the base, which made for questionable practicality. The shapeless tendrils of orange nebula in the background gave the station an aura of rebelliousness, of renegades and rogues and outcasts.

Over in the _Normandy_ , Luigi was having doubts as well.

"Why are we a-coming with Star Fox to find their missing a-members, again?"

"It does seem tangential," Zelda said. "And we could have stayed on Katina or gone our own way; but then we might have lost contact with their team, and if James McCloud's words are true, we'll need as much of Lylat's help as we can get for whatever's coming."

Luigi didn't argue the point, even though part of him wanted to. Mario was out there somewhere, and every sign seemed to indicate he was in trouble.

Their plan, of course, was not to barge straight into the den of thieves uninvited. Falco and Katt, who had been there most recently, had advised them that even though the rusty battleships which had once patrolled the base had not been replaced since the Aparoid Invasion, the heroes would do well to come in small groups. So only a few from each ship would actually infiltrate the hideout, and they would do so under the cover of the Sky Claw and Catspaw while the rest waited on the backs of inconspicuous asteroids.

"Good luck, Fox," James said as Fox climbed into the Sky Claw with Falco and Sora. Both the _Normandy_ and the Great Fox had landed on the back of a large chunk of space rock, and the Sky Claw and Catspaw were awaiting departure.

Fox nodded. "We'll find her."

The Catspaw, meanwhile, was being boarded by Katt, Kirby, and Zelda. Peppy was there to wish them safe travels, but nearby, Lucy and Amanda appeared to be gossiping about the complexities of the "Foxtal" and "Falkatt" pairings. Bill tried to join the excited chatter, but was soundly rejected by the girls.

And with that, they were off—one lightly modified Arwing and one heavily modified Invader-class fighter from Andross's old fleet. Falco and Katt made their approach appear as natural as possible—even with two extra passengers stuffed behind each of them. The base, though not as heavily monitored as it used to be, was still not a place where you would want to appear, well, _out of place_.

There was little time (and oxygen) to speak on the journey over, so both cockpits were rather quiet as they slipped into an entrance shaped like an SD-card slot.

The inside of Sargasso Hideout was saturated with steel, and faint red lights, and bright neon blue elevators and pathways. It was composed of a mostly hollow core of several levels, similar to one of the sinkhole cities of Utapau but on a smaller scale. The place was crawling with all kinds of hybrid (and probably stolen) ships and nasty-looking individuals. Wandering up and down its several levels were exiled Anglar pilots; old Lylat War veterans who had sided with Andross but had somehow escaped justice; thieving, bounty-hunting, conniving anthropomorphous beings of nearly every kind, slender and thick, whiny and bass-voiced, ugly and refined. On some of the levels were bars and pubs, useful for the diverse patrons who appeared to be there for shady business, or hiding from the law, or some other unknowable reason, chatting or skulking or throwing each other threatening stares.

"Well," Fox said, "I can see of all the places in the Smash Universe that've been changed a lot by the Heartless, this isn't one of them. There's only so much the Heartless can do, I guess."

"How are we gonna find your friend?" Sora asked.

Katt raised a paw with claws extended and smiled. "With persuasion."

Kirby just beamed with innocent curiosity. As always.

They began wandering around, on the hunt for anyone who looked like they might have some kind of connection with Krystal—perhaps one of General Scales's surviving SharpClaw warriors, for instance. But most of the hideout's resident lowlives were too drunk, or too oblivious, or too disposed to shoot anyone who so much as breathed in their direction, to be helpful. At the same time, the group of six drew many suspicious stares from the rest, what with a goofy-shoed human, a puffball, and a ninja accompanying the Lylat natives (Zelda had transformed into Sheik for added effect). They shouldered their way past several grimacing anthropomorphic piranhas and boarded one of the neon blue elevators, which carried them all the way to the highest floor so they could have a good view of the hideout's occupants. Falco in particular used his keen falcon eyesight to scan the crowds. After a while of wandering around the top floor, he snapped his fingers/wings.

"Bingo. Canine bozo at ten-o'-clock."

They soon came to a large, almost empty table with a single occupant. He was a tall, muscular wolf with rugged silver fur and an eyepatch covering one eye. His claws were wrapped around an enormous jug of some kind of green alcoholic drink, and as the small party approached, he took a long swig and slammed the jug violently on the table, glaring at them with his single pale green eye.

In spite of the high likelihood of finding this particular individual here, Fox was quite surprised—more by the pilot's sunken demeanor than anything else.

"…Wolf?"

"Go away, you mutt!" Wolf O' Donnell snarled, eyeing the rest. "And take your wretched friends with you."

Fox glanced at Zelda. "I think he needs a dose."

Zelda nodded and drew one of the blasters loaded with Totem Brew. But before she could fire, Wolf whipped out his own weapon and blasted it out of her hands.

"I don't need your damn Heart Softeners!" he said. "Don't you get it? The Heartless haven't had anything to do with me…because I'm already at my worst. Their work was finished before it began. Just as it'll soon be with all of you."

"No need to snap at us, Wolfy," Katt said, taking a seat without permission. The others followed suit. "For once, we're only here to help."

Wolf's voice grew dangerously soft. "Help? You think _you_ can help restore the wreckage that's become of me, of Lylat, of everything I know? Tell me, Smashers…" He latched his eye onto Sheik. "Can your 'healing magic' bring back my dead team? First Panther, consumed by those Aparoids in the War of the Hands…then Leon, slaughtered by that infernal bounty hunter during the Space Pirate War…Oikonny and Dengar don't really count, seeing as they were already treacherous maggots. But still…all of them have left me as the last pathetic shred of Team Star Wolf. I'm a lone wolf with nothing to live for. Can all your beliefs in love and good triumphing over evil fix that?"

Wolf's bitter speech had caught everyone off guard. What was just as unexpected was that Sora would be the one to answer him. The boy leaned forward with his hands spread across the table, a fierce look in his eye.

"You think you know about loss?" he said. "Try having your entire universe erased from existence. Try having everyone you ever cared for made extinct—just like that—because you weren't strong enough to save your kingdom's heart. At least This World is still here at all…and if you'll listen to what we're trying to tell you, at least _you_ still have a chance of saving it."

Wolf was silent.

"Listen, Fangface," Falco said. "If you're looking for someone's shoulder to cry on, or for a therapist to blabber all your life problems to, you're out of luck. But here are the facts: One—Leon and Panther are gone, and yeah, you're right, there's nothing we can do about it. Two—Lylat's being ruled by Andross's twisted psychopath of a grandson all because he didn't get into the cool club. Three—Xehanort's gonna bring This World to a _real_ end in the not-too-distant-future unless we stop him. And four—"

"We need your help finding Krystal in order to do it," Fox finished, determined to end on a positive note.

Wolf was astounded by the boldness of these audacious newcomers. But a sharp-toothed smirk came over his face as he glanced over their shoulders. "All I can say to that," he said, "is be careful what you wish for."

A laser from behind caught Katt in the back, sending her to the ground with a cry.

"Katt!" Falco yelled, then turned with the rest to view the attacker.

She wore a blood-red jumpsuit of a remarkably similar shade to Zelda's Heartless-inspired dress. A black helmet covered most of her head, with bright violet bangs visible through her blue visor. In one hand she wielded the culpable gun, and in the other she held her long, magical Saurian staff.

"Krystal!" Fox yelled, leaping to his feet and drawing his blaster. Others stood with their weapons as well—except for Wolf, who just watched the interchange, amused.

"Krystal is dead," the female vixen spat. "Only Kursed, the greatest bounty hunter in all of Lylat, remains. And I am here for _you_ , Fox McCloud." She jabbed a finger toward him accusingly. "My employer wishes to dismember you personally, and I am to deliver you to him. An old friend of yours—Dash Bowman, the Heir of Lylat. The great leader who now controls every inch of this System, from Corneria to Titania."

Fox wanted to talk, but he knew the only way he could get to Krystal would be to purge her. He was in the very act of pulling the trigger when Kursed swung her staff, sending a pulse of magic that pushed Falco, Sheik, Sora, and Kirby some twenty feet across the room, and wrenched the purifying gun out of Fox's hands. Fox's eyes widened as Kursed turned her gun on him.

"Don't do this," he said. "Whatever I've done to you, you're better than this."

The corner of Kursed's mouth lifted slightly. "No I'm not."

The gun fired its laser—which reflected off of Fox and back at her and seared her chest, knocking her to the ground unconscious.

Fox switched off his Reflector which he'd activated at the last second, knowing that she hadn't planned on killing him since she'd been here to collect his bounty. He knelt beside Kursed and cradled her head in his arms.

"Krystal…what has This World done to you?"

* * *

 **Lor Starcutter**

 **Popstar**

* * *

Magolor had simply landed on the roof of Castle Lololo, appearing quite comfortable with a more Santa Claus-inspired approach than the traditional front door knocking. The lavender clouds and dark sky—illuminated far above by Popstar's golden atmosphere like a celestial aurora borealis—made for a beautiful, if quaint, backdrop. The air was cold, but with a faint warmth coming from above like distant sunlight. The castle roof was eerily comparable to that of Master Hand's Fortress, which Mario supposed made sense considering Nightmare originated from Kirby's world. Architectural trends and all that.

"We'll get his minions to take care of unloading the cargo," Magolor said as they descended a stone staircase which wound down the outside of the tower to a small blue door embedded in the wall like a blueberry pancake. Mario and the other Smashers had little to say as they followed him; it was hard to decide how they felt in this place. Popstar, the Illusion Islands, Castle Lololo—it was all so foreign to them that they couldn't tell whether its vibes were good or bad. And maybe that was the point: Dreams, after all, were the canvas of comforts and nightmares alike.

Magolor let himself in through the blue door as well, which struck the Smashers as strange since according to him, most people on Popstar weren't too fond of him. And as soon as he opened the door and led them inside, their confusion was compounded.

The room was odd mostly in the sense that it was split exactly down the middle, one half the same bright blue of the door, the other half a rosy pink, with a like-colored door on the opposite end. In the middle was a statue of two Dreamlandians which most closely resembled Paint Roller, whom the Smashers had encountered at the Fountain of Dreams. Only, these two creatures bore neither baseball cap nor paintbrush, and their hands and feet were directly connected to their spherical bodies without any limbs to speak of. The two were in the act of clasping hands and dancing around each other, their large eyes almost twinkling with joy.

And sitting in a cushy chair in front of the statue, resting his feed on a couple Waddle Dees while others waited on him with food and drink, was King Dedede.

"You?" DK said. " _You're_ Magolor's client?"

Dedede cast Magolor and the Smashers a lazy look, mildly perplexed. "Is my next shipment o' goodies here already? Well, I'll be! You, you, and you." He gestured toward a few of the Waddle Dees. "Go help 'em bring it in. I've had a cravin' for some candy for some time, and my blood sugar could use a good spike with all the calories I've been burnin'."

"I thought you're supposed to keep a-watch over Dreamland," Mario said, ignoring the unlikelihood that the fat penguin had been burning any calories at all.

Dedede yawned. "Oh yeah; that little ol' chore. Well, that place is more boring than a honeydew fruit salad. I've been poppin' over to Popstar every now and again; I've figured there ain't no harm in takin' a vacation here so long as Xehanort's none the wiser."

"Yeah…let's make this easier for everyone," Samus said, pulling out her Time Flute—the second to last one besides the one in Mario's trousers. She tossed it to Pikachu.

"Wait—" Magolor protested.

But it was too late. Pikachu's cheeks sparked as he blew into the woodwind instrument, causing a daze to come over Dedede and his Waddle Dees as their hearts were rid of the Heartless.

Dedede groaned, and the rest were silent as he blinked rapidly, trying to take in the scene before him. He fixed his gaze on the first Smasher he recognized, which for some reason was Ness.

"Hey, kiddo…what in tarnation's goin' on here? Where's Kirby? And why am I…" He noticed the food littered around him and shrugged. "Well, I s'pose that's normal, actually."

"We should go," Magolor said hurriedly. "I tried to warn you, but Marx has an uncanny ability to sense whenever a heart's purged in his domain. He could be here any minute."

"Marx?" Dedede looked even more confused, then comprehension dawned on his face as he recognized Magolor. "Say, Smashers…what're y'all doin' with this here Voyager?"

Mario, DK, Samus, Ness, and Pikachu immediately backed as far away from Magolor as they could, shocked by Dedede's slip of the tongue, and yet at the same time, not.

"Not again," DK groaned.

"Marx isn't the Vassal of Dreamland, is he?" Samus cocked her arm cannon. "You are."

Remarkably, Magolor looked hurt, if anything. "You've gotta admit, though, I had you all going for a while."

"Not a-really," Mario said.

"Maybe a little bit," Ness admitted.

The friendliness in the Halcandran's eyes finally vanished. "Fine; if you don't wanna talk about this, then I guess it's time to wrap things up." He gestured toward the statue of Lololo and Lalala, and in just a few horrible seconds, the two figures became morphing masses of black energy, then swelled and solidified into perhaps the most intimidating Heartless the Smashers had yet seen.

They were almost exact likenesses of Master and Crazy Hand, except on each fingertip was a pair of empty yellow eyes, and stringy black tendrils hung from the palms and thumbs like strips of loose flesh. The palms themselves were distinguished with gaping heart-shaped holes, which were filled with pulsing scarlet energy.

"It was a lot of work to get you guys all the way out here," Magolor said. "Master Xehanort gave me a nice power boost with those Kingdom Hearts, but he wouldn't even let me use them to kill anyone. Unfair, right? So I had to bring you far enough away that even Xehanort wouldn't feel your deaths. So, um, good luck. I would join the brawl myself, but seeing as Sora's kind of far away, I won't waste either of our time. I've got important business to attend to, anyway. Happy dying!"

Magolor simply floated out the blue door and back up to the _Lor Starcutter_ without another word.

Mario watched the two Heartless Hands and ignited his fists. The Heartless seemed to be waiting for them to make the first move. "This isn't so a-bad. We can take them!"

Both of the Hands snapped their fingers, and in one instant, Mario's fiery fists were extinguished; Samus's Power Suit powered down; Pikachu's electricity was negated like a reasonable Congress bill; and Ness's offensive PSI energy flew the coop, figuratively speaking.

Samus struggled to lift her arms and step forward without the suit's support. Now she was just covered in a thick metal layer of dead weight. "Maybe not."

No one had noticed King Dedede, who had now planted himself squarely between the Smashers and the Heartless Hands. He turned to Ness as both of the Heartless appeared to be taking a moment to recharge from their power-nullifying attack.

"Get yourselves outta here, kid; you can use that big psychic brain of yours to teleport stuff, right?"

Ness closed his eyes. Any offensive capabilities had been dampened by the Heartless, but he could still feel enough PSI energy to maybe manage a short Teleport. He nodded.

"Pika?" Pikachu asked, which to paraphrase, meant, "But…what about Dedede?"

The penguin king's normally self-indulgent expression had been replaced with a firmness never before seen. He clutched his hammer shakily and glanced at the Hands, which almost seemed to be listening in on the conversation as they recharged.

"All I've ever been to the Smash Brothers is a coward. Even when I tried to do what's right, it was because I was dead afraid of the consequences if I didn't. For once in my doggone life, let me do somethin' for the right reason. I can't leave Popstar with ya anyways—not unless you're goin' back to Dreamland." He turned to face the Hands and smirked over his shoulder. "Y'all will be just fine; the Smash Universe is in good Hands. Now git."

There was no time to argue, or to thank King Dedede for giving them this chance to escape. Mario, DK, Pikachu, and Samus all gathered around Ness (Samus with considerable difficulty). As the boy focused his mind and cast PK Teleport, the last thing he saw was Dedede jumping and swinging his hammer at the Hands as the two Heartless projected thick beams of energy which crossed with obliterating power, the explosion nearly consuming the Smashers as well before they were twinkled to safety.

* * *

 **? ? ? ? ? ? ?**

* * *

A small figure had just penetrated the outer atmosphere of Smash Planet. It rocketed through the airless void using its jet-propelled feet, able to survive in the vast, oxygen-free frigidity by virtue of its nonmortal body. Its wooden limbs. Its mechanical organs. Its ticking heart.

Geno was locked onto his target like a war machine, heading toward the greatest concentration of purged Smash Brothers: Lylat. His directions were infallibly precise, for they had been given to him by Master Xehanort himself, along with the touch of Kingdom Hearts which granted him powers far beyond anything he'd possessed as a humble star, wish-granter, and companion of Mario. His black eyes blinked emotionlessly as he rocketed through space at an incredible speed like a lethal puppet missile. Because that was now a thing.

And Mario, Sora, and all the rest…once he was done with them, the Twelve would never make it back to the Nintendo World. Not in time for the End.


	27. Chapter 20: Beyond Redemption—Part I

" _You'd betta keep savin' the world, kid, because you're one downright expensive investment…"_

 _ **~King Dedede**_

* * *

Chapter 20: Beyond Redemption—Part I

* * *

 **Illusion Islands**

 **Popstar**

* * *

 ** _S_** amus found, to her relief, that as soon as Ness had Teleported them out of Castle Lololo, she regained control of her Power Suit, and no longer had to trudge around as if she had boulders strapped to every part of her body. Mario likewise found his fire powers restored, as did Pikachu with his electricity and Ness with the bulk of his offensive PK powers. DK, on the other hand, remained pretty much the same.

"Now what?" DK said as they gathered beneath the canopy of magenta palm leaves. "Magolor or those Hands could come after us at any time; I'm guessing Dedede won't hold them back long…"

Mario turned to Ness. "Can you take us off this a-planet?"

Ness shook his head ruefully. "Not even at my full strength. I can only take you maybe a couple hundred miles at a time, let alone parsecs or lightyears."

"Then we need another way off this planet," Samus said.

In true _deus ex machina_ fashion, a bright light shone on the Smashers through the trees, and a familiar voice echoed down to them.

"Hey, fellow Smash Brothers! You guys need a lift?"

After the initial blinding shock, Mario shielded his eyes to behold the speaker—a round yellow being with thin limbs, leaning over an open hatch in the bottom of Bomberman's white-and-red rocket.

"Pac-a-man?" Mario felt both relieved and apprehensive. After what they had just gone through with Magolor, how could they possibly trust another space visitor? "How did you a-find us?" The others clustered beside Mario, equally distrustful.

Instead of responding, Pacman tossed a yellow sphere over their heads, then let his pie-chart mouth follow a spontaneous trail of smaller pellets that led him in an arc down toward the falling projectile. The Smashers braced themselves for a fight, but to their surprise, the Atarian cruised straight over their heads like an eager fish being reeled in on a hook, and clomped his mouth around a trio of Heartless that had been creeping up behind them.

Two more Heartless came at Pacman from the darkness of the trees. He responded by pulling out two more of the yellow spheres and tossing one at each creature, causing them to dissolve into black mist which ultimately disappeared just as it had in response to Humba's Totem Brew.

Pacman turned and beamed at the Smashers. "Ya never can have too many Power Pellets—especially since they happen to protect you from both ghosts and the Heartless."

"Pika," Pikachu said, which meant in translation, "Another Heart Softener."

Pacman nodded. "Now let's get you off this dreary star. "We've got a lot to discuss on the way to Planet Bomber."

* * *

Bomberman's Rocket was quite packed with the five additional passengers (though to be honest, it was mainly because of DK). But rarely had such tight quarters for the Smashers felt so comfortable. At least now they were safe, and with people they could trust.

Pacman ooh'd and ah'd as Mario relayed their story—everything from the wedding to their present hunt for the Vassals. Bomberman was listening from his pilot's seat up front, though considering his muteness, his absence didn't make much of a difference in their conversation. Pacman seemed to know enough about this corner of the universe to speak for Bomberman as well as himself.

"Well, it's a good thing we found you when we did," Pacman said. "Gadd installed navigation tech in this rocket that's mapped out pretty much everything in the known universe—and it even has a feature that tracks the whereabouts of the Original 25. I think it was something he'd meant to use in the War of the Hands before you Smashers all just sort of found each other in Fourside."

"Really?" Ness said. "So you can take us to Sora and the others!"

"Can Gadd's maps also track the Vassals?" Samus asked.

"Yes to the first, no to the second," Pacman said, frowning. "And I guess that brings us to why we're heading to Planet Bomber. See, after Xehanort came, I was stranded there with the Bombermen, and there were no Power Pellets for me to be purged with. Then, one day not too long ago, a stranger came, and he looked just like you…" He glanced at Mario. "…only metal."

"Metal Mario," DK said.

"He gave me a bunch of Power Pellets, and of course I was hungry as always and ate one right away. Then, once I was back to normal, he didn't speak exactly—just sort of conveyed a message telepathically. He said, 'Take the rocket to Popstar.' And that was it."

There were quite mixed feelings about this development. On one hand, Mario had seen firsthand that Metal Mario's intrusion in the Smash Planet Grand Prix had alerted them all that dangerous events were soon to come (though it was still unclear what the Great Convergence actually was). And Ness had been nearby when Metal Mario had destroyed the Desolator, Professor U. Reeka's machine that had very nearly sunk the entire Nintendonian continent.

But Pikachu couldn't help associate Metal Mario with its only surviving counterpart, Metal Mr. Game & Watch. And Metal G.W. had been the one responsible for the death of Red's first Pokémon, Pikachu, which had catalyzed Pichu's evolution into the current Pikachu. He didn't know whether the two rogue Metal Smashers meant good or ill, but either way, he was reluctant to trust them. Still, Pacman's story spoke for itself: Metal Mario had clearly sent him and Bomberman here to save them, though how it had known what would happen was another mystery of This World to add onto the already heaping pile.

"You still haven't explained why we're going back to Planet Bomber," DK pointed out.

"Yeah," Ness said. "Why don't we go to Earth? We could purge my friends and get them to help us find Sora and the others."

Pacman nodded. "I was just getting to that. Once I'd tricked Bomberman into taking one of my Power Pellets, we set out across space toward Popstar—just two days ago, actually. But as we passed Earth, another weird thing happened: One of those Star Fox ships popped out of nowhere and flew by us. It sort of sounded like Fox, but I couldn't see into the cockpit because of the distance. Then it transmitted a message to us: 'After Popstar, we will meet you on Planet Bomber.'"

"Huh," Samus said.

They were silent for a moment.

"Kazooie would be flipping out if he heard all this," DK said finally. "There've been more unlikely coincidences in the last couple hours than Golden Bananas in my hoard."

"200, right?" Ness said, remembering tales he'd heard of the Kongs' dealings with K. Rool.

"201," DK corrected. "Although that last one was a big waste of time, to be honest." He looked at the others' blank faces and cleared his throat. "Doesn't matter. My point is, how do we know we're not just playing into Xehanort's hands? What if L.O.G. was right and we're really all just a bunch of puppets being pulled by invisible strings?"

Mario, who had been thinking about this very thing perhaps more than anyone else, was ready to answer this time.

"Even if we're a-puppets of the Hand of a-Fate," he said, "We've a-got to act as if we're not. We've a-gotten this a-far, against all odds. We beat a-the Mystic, even though she could a-see the future. And I believe our a-destiny is to fight, as we've always a-done—and to win."

* * *

 **Asteroid Belt**

 **Lylat System**

* * *

They were almost out of Lylat—the _Normandy_ and the Great Fox, flying side by side with a new heading and a specific purpose. After the Sargasso Hideout, James McCloud had revealed that with all of Star Fox together, they could now proceed to find the rest of the Smashers—and they would find them on Planet Bomber.

Both ships had attempted to contact the other Smashers with their advanced communication technology, but none of them knew the frequency of Samus's Power Suit, nor did their lost friends possess any of Gadd's handheld communicators. So they ventured forth on the word of Fox's interdimensional being of a father.

Within the Great Fox, Peppy, Slippy, Fox, James, Falco, Katt, Bill, and Amanda looked out at the familiar chunks of roughly spherical space rock, ranging from the size of a fist to that of a Spartan frigate, slowly turning through space like uncertain soda bubbles. Thankfully, the hordes of Space Pirates and Andross's armies no longer infested these parts, though here and there one could identify isolated metal fragments that hinted at earlier conflicts.

Suddenly, Lucy rushed into the command center. "She's awake."

Fox turned immediately and followed her into the Great Fox's infirmary.

* * *

Krystal was laid out on a gray hospital bed, her helmet removed, but still dressed in her blood-red jumpsuit. She seemed barely conscious, but the anger that had been in her before—when she had referred to herself as the bounty hunter Kursed—was thankfully depleted.

Fox knelt beside her and took her hand. "Krystal? Do you recognize me?"

"…Fox?" Her deep cerulean eyes were a bit hazy, like two sapphires that had grown dull from lack of polish.

"How are you feeling?" Lucy asked.

Krystal slowly sat up, then looked down at herself, and back at Fox in confusion. "How did you…where is Dash?" A slight measure of panic entered her expression.

"He can't hurt you now," Fox said. It took him a moment to work up the courage to go on. "Krystal…I'm _so_ sorry. I was so overprotective of you that I drove you away, and then you must've gotten mixed up with Dash's forces after the Heartless came."

Krystal was looking more awake by the second. The first signs of her signature stubbornness began to show on her face. "You think I left you because of that? Fox…you have already sacrificed so much for me. I could never stop caring for you. It is true, the Heartless had begun to take hold of us…but I felt a disturbance on Venom before my heart was darkened completely, and my intuition told me that finding the source would one day be of great use in driving that darkness away. And now…you seek to thwart him."

Fox didn't have to ask for clarification. They both knew what the vixen meant by "him": Dash Bowman.

"We're gonna go help some of the other Smashers first. But yeah; then we'll have to find Dash."

Krystal nodded. "When the time comes, I have what you need to stop him. And not just to stop him…but to save him."

Fox's face registered surprise, but he nodded as well. "If my rejecting him from joining the team drove him down his dark path, then I at least owe it to him to try. He was a good guy, and I think something happened when he took his leave from the Cornerian Fleet that made him more like his psychopathic grandfather. No one's beyond redemption, right?"

* * *

Meanwhile in the _Normandy_ , Legion, Sora, Zelda, Kirby, Red, Luigi, and Yoshi were transfixed by the floating crumbs and chunks of the asteroid field. To Kirby, they looked almost like giant pieces of chocolate corn puff cereal.

"Food," he said longingly.

Yoshi pulled out a ball of Omusubi that he'd kept from Vigoor and surrendered it to his friend, who swallowed it with a grateful smile.

Zelda gasped as something glinted from beyond her side of the window. "What is that?"

Without turning its head, Legion zoomed in on the distant object with the ship's cameras, its red bulb flashing. "We have identified the object, but we cannot explain how such a thing is present in this environment. The object is a—"

The bright speck rocketed toward the _Normandy_ faster than anyone would have thought possible, and before Legion could finish his description, the object spoke for itself, casting two discs of whirling yellow light which shook the ship like an unruly massage chair. Luigi gawped at the attacker's identity.

"Geno?"

And indeed, floating not far from the command bridge was the puppet-inhabiting star spirit, his wooden features somehow made even more so by the impassive blackness of his eyes. He did not respond, but began generating two more disc-shaped Geno Whirls.

As much as Sora would have liked to negotiate with Mario's close friend who had briefly become his own, he knew there was only one proper way to deal with the Heartless Geno.

"Shoot him with the Totem Brew!" he yelled to Legion. The robot acknowledged the request with a flash of its bulb and activated the _Normandy_ 's modified lasers. Several bright pink blasts crashed into the puppet before he could bombard the ship again.

"That'll teach 'em!" Red said. He hadn't actually done much since leaving Smash Planet, but he had to admit it was nice to sit back and watch others do the hard stuff for him. Of course, one might argue that's exactly what happens with Pokémon battles, but that…that doesn't count.

The blast cleared to reveal Geno without a splinter of wood out of place, and his eyes shone like two polished 8 balls that were about to reveal very grim fortunes indeed. His body was now flashing red with the added strength of his Geno Boost, and he silently caused his hinged arms to bend up at the elbow, revealing two ominous holes that served as the barrels of his Hand Cannon.

Before the Smashers could do anything else, two substantial cannonballs made of some kind of dense galactic ore crashed into the _Normandy_ , dealing critical damage to its shield. One more of those and they would be looking at a spaceship with a very deadly leak.

"Do something!" Sora cried as he and the others were jarred almost off their feet by the collision.

"The enemy is too quick," Legion responded. "We cannot turn aside fast enough to avoid another impact."

That was when the Great Fox retaliated with a laser of its own. Geno was forced to abandon his Hand Cannons in order to generate a translucent white shield, absorbing the Great Fox's attack as well as the lasers of the several Arwings which had been deployed.

"Uh…hi?" Falco said as the puppet fixed his cold eyes on him, Slippy, Bill, and James, all of whom had assaulted Geno simultaneously with the Great Fox's laser. Geno's elbows straightened out again, and his hands folded in on themselves to reveal two strange but unmistakably dangerous guns.

"Whoa!" Slippy yelled as they were forced to scatter from the fiery stars coming from Geno's appropriately named Star Guns. James fired another few rounds of his twin lasers before peeling off, but to no avail; Geno's shield appeared impenetrable.

What was worse, the stars didn't simply shoot off straight into space; they followed each of the Arwings like heat-seeking missiles. The pilots had their work cut out for them swerving and loop-de-looping and barrel-rolling to avoid being blown up. As they performed their evasive maneuvers, many of the stars smashed into asteroids, blowing them to smaller pieces like crushed Coco Puffs, sometimes splitting larger ones down the middle into off-kilter hemispheres.

As it was, Legion continued to fire missiles and lasers from the _Normandy_ , but to negligible effect; and the rest of the ship's passengers felt as helpless as a princess locked in a castle (Zelda was able to resort to actual memories instead of just her imagination).

"This is a-bad," Luigi said—obvious, but he couldn't think of anything else to say or do. By now, Geno had done serious damage to Slippy's and Bill's Arwings, which retreated with bright boosts back toward the Great Fox. Speaking of which, two more of Geno's cannonballs slammed into that vessel as well, taking a large chunk out of its remaining shield.

"If we can't deal any damage to him," Fox said, having rushed back out to the command center after hearing the commotion, "then we've gotta bail outta here."

"But what about them?" Amanda said, eyeing the _Normandy_ with concern. "They don't have hyperspeed like we do."

Fox had no answer, so it was a good thing his silence was filled by yet another newcomer. A red Arwing-sized ship sped past the Great Fox and made straight for Geno, ignoring all the chaos of the puppet's myriad projectiles.

Geno noticed it and flung another yellow energy disc, but at the last second, the Wolfen activated a red-violet Reflector which encompassed the entire craft, the rippling orbital lights bouncing the Geno Whirl back at its owner. The Wolfen followed the energy disc straight into Geno, striking through the shield and causing its body to splinter apart into so many wood chips.

"No…" Yoshi, who had known Geno as well, looked regretfully at the marionette's remains.

Fox's eyes widened even as his heart leapt for joy. "Wolf? You followed us!"

The Wolfen's transmission came back through the Great Fox and _Normandy_ alike. "Hmph. You're welcome. I _was_ gonna let you all leave the hideout and get yourselves killed…but the kid with the ridiculous shoes got me thinking: Maybe there _is_ a shred of a chance that we can beat Bowman and Xehanort at their own game. And even if not, well…I'd rather go down fighting than sulking in a bar."

"Uh…guys?"

Under normal circumstances, Sora would have been delighted to see Geno's pieces become sentient and begin to reform. But these circumstances were slightly less than normal.

"We've gotta get outta here, fellas," Peppy said.

"Any ideas, Captain Wormhole?" Falco said, clearly addressing James McCloud.

"Actually, yes," James said. Without explaining, he made for a particularly odd-shaped asteroid and quickly blasted it apart, revealing a wide ring of small gray triangular prisms, the center blurred like the view from a smudged telescope.

"Good enough for me," Peppy said, and once the injured Arwings were on board, he boosted the Great Fox through the portal. Bill, Falco, Wolf, and the _Normandy_ soon followed, just as Geno's body sealed itself together and his onyx eyes shone with life once more.

* * *

They came out into empty space, which according to James McCloud was about a day's journey from Planet Bomber.

"One problem," Falco said. "Can't that crazy puppet just follow us here?"

James smiled slyly within his cockpit. "That portal is a fickle one; it usually vanishes within a few seconds of being accessed."

"Usually?" Katt said.

"Our sensors indicate that the portal through which we have come has now dissolved," Legion confirmed, to everyone's relief.

"By the way, Wolf," Falco said. "Your ride looks pretty ugly after ramming into that magic marionette. You might wanna go into the hangar for some repairs."

"Fine," Wolf said, steering his vessel toward the Great Fox. "But that frog had better not screw anything up."

It was a day of peace, which was quite welcome to the Smashers and Lylat travelers after Sargasso, and the asteroid belt, and everything else. In the Great Fox, so many different social dynamics were at play with Wolf, Krystal, _and_ Fox's long-lost father on board that much of it was spent just in catching each other up on the state of both Lylat and the Smash Universe. Krystal didn't withhold any amount of praise from James regarding the character of his son, while Fox's father was equally interested in the team leader's love interest, as well as the story of how they met on Sauria. Wolf was shown gratitude for his daring rescue, but that didn't change the awkwardness of the onetime enemy's presence. He mainly kept to himself, though occasionally Katt and Falco would engage him in some outlaw chatter.

The social dynamics on the _Normandy_ were more or less as they had been before Lylat, but now the anticipation to find the other Smashers was higher than ever. Luigi and Yoshi thought of Mario; Red and Kirby thought of Jigglypuff; Zelda thought of Link—her fallen star, her lost hero—and of the decrepit state of her kingdom; and Sora thought of the strange vision he'd had on the Destiny Islands—the one with the hurricane of darkness, the mixed voices and images, and the bright blue-green heart whose light was being choked by the oppressive shadows.

He, Yoshi, and Luigi also couldn't shake the horrible image of the future shown to them by the Mystic: the Smash Universe's ultimate obliviation. The only reason they had beaten her at all was because Metal Mr. Game & Watch had intervened. It must have been exempt, for whatever reason, from the Mystic's foresight. But everything else the Mystic had predicted had come to pass.

How long did they have left?

* * *

 **Bomberman's Rocket**

* * *

"I've got a concern," DK announced as they came up on Planet Bomber. The Earth-like planet—whose land masses unmistakably resembled Bomberman's face, the small pink moon orbiting nearby—was unlike anything the Smashers had seen before. Bomberman was one of those unsung heroes whose exclusion from Master Hand's tournaments remained a mystery. There were many worthy fighters who had been neglected—Banjo & Kazooie; Pacman; even lesser known entities like Paint Roller could have just as easily filled the narrow roster. As a result, even with the Smash Brothers bringing all of Nintendo together, certain corners of the Smash Universe remained almost as alien, as mysteriously foreign, as they had been before the Smashers had even been aware of their existence. Planet Bomber was certainly one such world. But there was one conclusion even a jungle-dweller like Donkey Kong could draw.

"Won't a bunch of Heartless Bombermen want to…you know… _blow up anything that moves?_ "

At that, Bomberman turned around and gesticulated with his noodly arms, which Pacman had the exclusive privilege of translating.

"You would think so," Pacman interpreted. "But really it's been more like a nuclear arms race, sort of like the tension you guys described finding in Strangereal. Everyone's been hoarding more bombs than ever—bigger and more dangerous ones, too—but they're all too afraid to attack their neighbors for fear of setting off a chain reaction that'll explode the entire planet."

"Makes sense," Samus said. "In a weird sort of way."

"Are we gonna go to the surface?" Ness asked. "Or just wait out here?"

More of Bomberman's sign language was translated.

"If the message from that Arwing was accurate," Pacman said, "then that hopefully won't be necessary. It'll be difficult to explain to the other Bombermen why we've brought a bunch of strangers to their planet. Bomber Base has been a little on edge lately, as you can probably imagine."

"Pi-pika-chu!" Pikachu exclaimed, which meant something along the lines of, "And look who's here!"

With impeccable timing, the _Normandy_ and the Great Fox came into view from the opposite side of the planet.

"Do you really think that's them?" DK said. "I mean…I recognize Star Fox's rig, but what if they've all been turned Heartless again?"

"I don't think a-so," Mario said. "If Bomberman and Pac-a-man were led here by beings like Metal a-Mario, the rest wouldn't be able to meet us here without the same a-help."

That argument didn't seem entirely sound, but it was enough for them all to hope it was true, although Bomberman was still ready for a dogfight if it came down to it.

They approached the other space vessels until both parties neared the tiny pink moon, at which point all three ships came to a standstill and communications were opened.

"This is James McCloud. Bomberman; Pacman; do you read me?"

"Loud and clear!"

Mario and the others silently wondered at the miraculously living status of Fox's father, but continued to listen.

"Excellent. For your peace of mind, you should know I was the one who contacted you near Earth, and told you to meet us here. I can confirm that the Heartless have no hold on any of us, and most of your Smash Brother friends are here along with Team Star Fox. What is your status? Did you find the other Smashers?"

"We're all a-here," Mario said, wanting to talk directly to Luigi and Yoshi, but figuring now wasn't the best time.

"Is this rendezvous point an ideal site for status updates?" Legion said. "We would suggest finding a suitable planetary surface to further convene and reconcile recent events."

"That won't be necessary, guys."

But that last transmission hadn't come from the Great Fox, or the _Normandy_ , or Bomberman's Rocket. It had come from a fourth vessel—a sparkling blue space boat approaching Planet Bomber from above (relative to the Smashers' current orientation, that is).

The _Lor Starcutter_.

"Magolor!" Kirby said in astonishment.

"Yep; it's me, Kirby!" From the _Starcutter_ 's Skybridge, Magolor cheerfully waved down at the _Normandy_ , even though his old nemesis couldn't possibly have seen it. "It's about time we got together again, huh? But don't worry; I brought plenty of friends for the rest of you to meet too!"

By "friends," the Voyager referred to the hundreds of shadows emerging from the darkness of space, their black figures eclipsing the stars and forming a shroud around the _Starcutter_ like a swarm of brooding space ravens. Upon closer inspection, the Smashers beheld that these were no birds, but Heartless—Heartless in the form of yellow-eyed "fighter jets" with insectoid antennae near the front and spidery limbs protruding from their wings. Some of the larger ones resembled giant squids, their extraterrestrial tentacles writhing with anticipation. But Magolor seemed, at present, to be holding them back.

"Not everything I told you guys was a lie," he said. "I really have been trying to get back to Halcandra with all this Dream Water. What I maybe failed to mention was that I plan to build a fountain there with some slight modifications to the water…into a Fountain of Nightmares. I figured if Dream Water is powerful enough to free hearts from the Heartless, then Nightmare Water, with the added solvent of fear, would make it that much more powerful. Maybe even powerful enough to leave This World to its unhappy fate and create a new, nightmarish Halcandran paradise!"

"But you're still stuck here," Samus pointed out.

Magolor sighed. "Too true; and that's why I've come to this place. I'll need an extraordinary amount of energy to create a dimensional void into Halcandra, since Master Xehanort's been making it so hard to leave. I would need the energy of, say…I dunno…a planet-sized bomb, maybe?"

Bomberman paled, and Pacman didn't need any hand motions to understand him. "You want to blow up Planet Bomber? There's no way we'll let that happen!"

Magolor nodded, forgetting no one could actually see him. "It's a planet ripe for destruction, as Xehanort might say; ripe for picking like a cherry—or rather, a cherry _bomb_. But I'm gonna be honest: I don't really care about killing any of you; I just want my ticket outta here. So feel free to leave, or die fighting, or whatever suits you."

Then the Heartless began their advance, while the _Starcutter_ remained in place, waiting for them to do its dirty work in setting off the planet's all-encompassing bomb network. All it would take was one kamikaze Heartless to reach its target…and it would all be over.

"So much for the 'heart-opening virtue of Kirby's childlike innocence,'" DK muttered.

But there was little time for rumination; a wave of planet-destroying creatures was almost upon them. Within the Great Fox, pilots hurried to their Arwings and other ships as it and the _Normandy_ charged up their lasers. Kirby leapt out of an airlock and summoned his Warpstar, speeding toward the _Lor Starcutter_. Bomberman prepared his rocket's arsenal of bombs for deployment. But for many of the Smashers who couldn't survive or move about in open space, there seemed little they could do. That is, until Krystal sent a telepathic message to Zelda.

 _I need your magic. Channel it to me through your mind, and with my staff, we can even these odds._

Zelda had no idea what the vixen had up her sleeve, but she complied, and found it surprisingly easy this time to access the vast stores of magical power contained within the Triforce. It was almost like using the Chaos Emerald with Shadow—focusing not on the power's divine investiture, but on converting it into the raw natural energy which Krystal was used to working with using her Saurian staff. Like a rush of sentient heat, the tingling power flowed up through her chest, and into her head, and across space to Krystal like radio waves.

 _Thank you._

Krystal, who had been closing her eyes with intense concentration, suddenly opened them and raised her staff without explanation, blue light pulsing from it like EMPs. Peppy, who was the only one left to manage the Great Fox, widened his eyes, his ears growing stiff as the pulse expanded past the walls of the ship and encompassed the _Normandy_ and Bomberman's rocket as well. But this was no shield; it was magic which affected each of the ship-restricted Smashers in a peculiar way.

"Mama-mía!" Luigi said, startled as his body began to glow with a blue outline, as if he were inside a form-fitting bubble.

"Yoshi!" Yoshi cried, as within his own bubble, his jump of surprise had not brought him back down with the artificial gravity, but caused him to remain in the air, floating and rotating like a small asteroid.

 _Now you can go out and fight the Heartless_ , Krystal told them all telepathically. _Hurry!_

Without further ado, Mario, DK, Samus, Pikachu, and Ness bounced out of Bomberman's Rocket (Pacman remaining behind to help Bomberman), and fanned out and stroked up to meet the swarming Heartless with fists, and fire, and charge shots and Thundershocks and PSI powers. From the _Normandy_ , Sora, Luigi, Yoshi, and Red did the same, meeting their enemy with Keyblade, Omni-Tool, eggs, and Cooper Cane.

A small fleet of Lylatan ships joined the assault: Fox; Falco; Slippy; James; Bill; Lucy; Amanda; Katt; and Wolf. The Wolfen's red-violet twin lasers blasted Heartless apart with each shot, while the Catspaw fired a strategically placed Smart Bomb into a formation of the "giant squid" Heartless, consuming them in its large blast radius before they could set upon the defending ships. The seven Arwings fended off the invaders with similar skill (though Slippy had to stick close to his girlfriend to make up for her slightly lesser piloting prowess).

For the few Heartless that somehow made it past all of this, Bomberman's Rocket was prepared to fling more traditional bombs to wipe out the rest.

"Keep up the good work, fellas!" Peppy said over the coms. "Remember, we can't let a single one of those blasted bug things touch the planet."

"Piece o' cake!" Falco said, spiraling around three pursuing Heartless and blasting them from behind.

"These Aparoids you spoke of," James McCloud said, narrowly avoiding several huge black tentacles. "I think I'm glad I never met them."

Fox chuckled at his father's comment as he destroyed one arrow-headed Heartless after another. They didn't seem to be putting up much resistance besides casting their entire selves at his Arwing. But most of them stuck to their primary objective: to break through and detonate Planet Bomber. It wasn't as bad as being infected by space parasites since the destroyed Heartless matter seemed unable to penetrate either the spaceships or Krystal's protective bubbles. But as with the many missiles he'd had to prevent from destroying important Lylatan landmarks (not to mention the Great Fox itself), Fox did feel almost overwhelmed by the multitudinous enemies—yet at the same time empowered by the company of his talented friends.

The throngs of Heartless tried every conceivable method to maneuver around the Nintendonians, but the individual utility made possible through Zelda and Krystal caused even the Heartless' superior numbers to find the Smash Brothers' forces impassable. Still, none of the heroes were given a moment's pause, and any communication between them soon became brief and strictly related to encroaching clusters of Heartless.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sora broke away and followed Kirby until they had reached the _Starcutter_. But to their surprise, the sparkling ship's Skybridge had been abandoned, and Magolor instead floated directly in front of them. His small egg-shaped body, and his benign golden gaze, appeared almost as harmless as Kirby. But they both knew better.

"Friend?" Kirby lamented.

Magolor laughed. "Come on, Kirby; you really thought you could change me just by playing the 'niceness' card? I tricked your friends into thinking I'd changed as a ruse so I could get what I wanted; there's nothing more to it. No deep imaginary spark of goodness for you to draw out. You need to learn to accept that some of us are just beyond the point of no return. We are who we are, and that's why you'll never beat Xehanort—why you'll end up as dead as the penguin—because you refuse to accept it."

Kirby gasped as he remembered his dream—over three years ago, when he'd been lounging beside the Super Happy Tree with Yoshi…

 _"You can't save everyone, Kirby…Some of us have already chosen our path, past the point of no return. But don't let that stop you from saving those who still have hope…"_

Tears budded in his eyes—tears of a hoped-for redemption that had been made impossible. Then it registered: _As dead as the penguin_. Magolor had murdered King Dedede: a lazy, sometimes resentful mischief maker, but one Kirby had long considered a friend nonetheless. One of the only constants in Dreamland, besides Meta Knight, and now they were both gone. His tears grew hot with anger.

"End!"

"Yes, Kirby," Magolor said as his body began to transform. "Yes, it will."

Sora and Kirby watched tensely as the small Halcandran glowed a starry blue-violet, and then his body expanded and reformed into something truly terrible.

In place of his body was an enormous, cape-like shroud of goopy blue-violet matter. His eyes were now the hot red-orange of a scalding solar flare, shining out from a horned helmet with cruel white tips. His disembodied hands seemed to be cufflinked with rings of pink energy, his entire form hovering like a malevolent genie woken from its long imprisonment. Whatever good Kirby had ever seen in him was surely gone now.

There was an aura that Kirby had felt once before—five years ago, when they had fought one of Nightmare's monstrous forms known as the Behemoth. That same animalic malice, that same feral hatred, was present now. Neither Magolor nor Kirby (nor Sora) said another word; now there was only to fight.

* * *

One cluster of Heartless had broken through the Smash Brothers' ranks, and was speeding toward Planet Bomber at a distressing rate.

"Frick!" Falco said, circling around to start after the stray Heartless. "How could I have missed that one?" However, before he could begin his pursuit, another group of Heartless swarmed around him and demanded his attention. He wasn't going anywhere.

"Well, there's a very scientific explanation for that, buddy," Bill said as he, Lucy, Slippy, and Amanda went after the intruding creatures. "Space is black; the Heartless are black; and, well, let's just face it: The Sky Claw's targeting computer is no match for Falco Lombardi's almighty ego."

Falco would have retorted snarkily had he not been on the brink of destruction. Fortunately for him, Fox and James came to his rescue, though they had not a moment to catch their breath. The Heartless seemed to just keep on coming like spontaneously reproducing cockroaches.

"Yikes!" Amanda panicked and jerked her controls as one of the Heartless they were chasing suddenly turned around and came straight at her. Unfortunately, Slippy was too close to avoid being jarred by his girlfriend's Arwing, and both of their boosters died away as they reoriented themselves from the collision, leaving them far behind their quarry.

Slippy sighed. "I told you not to panic, Amanda."

"Oops; sorry."

Bill and Lucy, on the other hand, managed to maintain a straight course, firing a steady barrage of lasers. They chipped away at the Heartless, downing one after another as the Heartless' clear target, Bomber Base, grew larger. The base consisted of a round gray wall and a central tower whose top floor closely resembled Bomberman's head. From above, it appeared almost like a detonate button for the planet itself. But the two pilots were confident that no Heartless would ever come near that button—not with Bill Grey and Lucy Hare on the job.

"Whoa!"

Out of nowhere, one of the "giant squid" Heartless cut them off, causing both Arwings to crash and bounce off its pitch-black surface, their wings clipped on both sides, smoke billowing from the damaged areas.

"Sorry, guys," Bill said as they made a U-turn to avoid further contact with the Heartless. "That one caught us off guard; we've gotta head back to the Great Fox."

"Darn right," Peppy said. "You two get on over; you'll do no good to anyone dead."

"But…what about the Heartless?" Amanda said, she and Slippy watching in horror as the remaining penetrators drew within perhaps thirty seconds of the planet surface.

In silent response (as always), Bomberman pushed his rocket to its limits, dive-bombing in a morbidly literal sense in a race for his entire species' survival. Pacman used the controls to lob round bombs at the Heartless as well as he could, but in such a high-speed chase, his accuracy suffered. Even at its fastest, the rocket was a good three seconds behind the Heartless.

Finally, one of the bombs met with success, and with the Heartless.

Bomberman raised his arms in tacit celebration, but his proverbial chickens had yet to hatch. Somehow, a single Heartless had outstripped the bomb, and was now dropping through the planet's thin atmosphere toward the tower.

Down below, Bombermen were congregated in and around the base, watching in shock as a dark object shot from the sky toward their pyrotechnically unstable tower. Some even dropped the small bombs they had been hauling or kicking like soccer balls, ignorant of the wars and politics of the Smash Universe, but still sensing that they were about to witness the end of their world.

Then a single yellow figure converged on the black speck. Pacman, encased in one of Krystal's protective bubbles, plummeted like a rotund Superman, pulled out a two-dimensional apple, reckoned the distance and the angle through a single focused eye, and hurled the object.

The Heartless insectoid made its final descent, and then…

 _Thwonk_.

The apple bonked its tip, causing the Heartless to disintegrate, its dark particles coming within inches of the base's roof.

"Crisis averted," Pacman said to no one in particular. He nodded down at the bewildered Bombermen and stroked back up through the atmosphere.

As Pacman returned to Bomberman's Rocket, its pilot waved his arms at him inquisitively, as if to say, "I had no idea an apple could be so powerful."

Pacman grinned as they rose back to join the fight. "You'd be surprised."

* * *

Magolor almost immediately vanished into a sparkling violet portal, reappearing directly above the two heroes. His huge hands began tossing bright blue flames like a vengeful deity.

Sora cried out in surprise and used Flowmotion to glide out of the way, while Kirby weaved up through the flames, undaunted by the seething blue heat raining around him. He inhaled one of the flames and spat it back out at Magolor's face.

Magolor winced from the attack, but didn't seem overly affected by the regurgitation. He swatted Kirby and the Warpstar away with one large white hand, sending the Warpstar into a collision course with an asteroid, whose explosion signified the end of the Warpstar.

Then the Voyager turned to Sora. He ignored the boy's feeble Thunder attacks, waved his hands like a magician, and pointed at him, causing a violet star-shaped vortex to swirl into being nearby. Sora yelled and "swam" as hard as he could away from the strong pull of the starry suction hole.

He just managed to push himself far enough to latch onto a stray asteroid. But as he made to grasp the rock with his Keyblade-wielding arm, the Kingdom Key slipped from his hand and plummeted into the depths of the vortex. He tried to summon it back into his hand as he clambered further from the lethal gravity pull, but to no avail.

Then, without warning, another violet portal appeared directly in front of him, and Magolor reached through it and punched Sora against the asteroid with brutal force. The resulting debris revealed his life protected by Krystal and Zelda's magic, but very much unconscious within his bubble.

Kirby shook himself to his senses and noticed Sora's plight in dismay. Magolor was now coming for the Star Warrior, and without Sora or his Keyblade, Kirby could pound the Halcandran around for centuries and it would mean nothing. What could he do now?

Then he looked again at Sora, and it came to him.

He began bouncing from one shattered asteroid fragment to another, leaping between cascades of blue flames as he sought out the rocks which were already moving the direction he wanted to go with considerable momentum. Magolor summoned a number of violet rings that lined the haphazard belt of asteroid crumbs, and as Kirby drew adjacent to the first, an energy spike shot out of the ring, nearly puncturing him like a balloon.

He advanced with more caution, waiting for the opportune moment before proceeding to the next rock. About halfway across, Magolor brought both his fists down, but Kirby quickly inhaled one of the rocks and spat it out at another, the backward momentum pushing him out of one hand's path and clear over the other. He bounced off yet another fragment and made a clean break toward Sora's floating body.

Kirby was nearly there when Magolor pulled one more trick out of his metaphorical sleeve. He created one portal in front of his hands, then another behind Sora's floating body, directly facing Kirby. The Voyager generated a mass of bright aquamarine energy and pushed it through the portal.

Kirby realized he had no time to close the distance before both he and Sora would be disintegrated, so he adapted to the situation. That is, he slurped Sora into his mouth and swallowed, spitting the human morsel downward (unharmed, of course) and buoying himself up so that both barely escaped the subsequent locomotive-sized energy beam that flared through the space they had just occupied seconds earlier.

In a burst of starry light, Sora Kirby was born, his distinguishing features being the familiar spiky brown hair—plus the miniature Keyblade he carried in his arm stubs.

He turned to Magolor, narrowed his eyes, and pointed the Keyblade (more like a dagger than a sword) at his enemy. The weapon's magic pulled him straight into the dark space between Magolor's lava-red eyes, the outline of the keyhole flashing around the blade.

"Failed kingdom," Kirby said with finality.

Curiously, Magolor's demise did not follow the same swift pattern as the other Vassals'. His round black center swelled to twice its former size, and below Magolor's two eye slits, a third enormous pupil raised its eyelid, its scorching stare boring accusingly into Kirby, its slayer. Magolor's horns grew huge and curved around and down its front like a Balrog, and his goopy cape split into hellish butterfly wings on either side. It was as if the ugliness in his soul was being revealed at the last, his corrupted goodness requiring longer to wither away than the soul of a being of unchanging evil.

 _You ARE a monster after all, Kirby,_ the beast seemed to say.

But Kirby was done blaming himself for the faults of others. He pulled the Keyblade out of Magolor's head and watched as his onetime friend's demented soul evaporated into pure white hearts.

"Your choice," he said.

And that was the last of the Voyager.


	28. Chapter 21: Beyond Redemption—Part II

" _A word of advice, Fox. When the time comes, don't hesitate. Just act."_

 _ **~Wolf O'Donnell**_

* * *

Chapter 21: Beyond Redemption—Part II

* * *

 **Planet Bomber**

* * *

 ** _O_** nce Magolor's destruction literally defused the tension among the liberated Bombermen, Bomber Base became quite a comfortable place for the Smash Brothers to rest. They planned to spend only one night in the tower, however, for they didn't know how close Geno, or Dash Bowman, or any of Xehanort's other followers were on their tail.

Still, it didn't hurt to sit back and enjoy the startling display of a spectacular fireworks show; as far as anything explosive went, no one did it better than the Bombermen. And so the eleven residents of Lylat, Pacman, Bomberman, and all of the Twelve (save those who were dead, missing, or frozen in stone) allowed themselves to enjoy the view of the starry sky which had so recently been filled with Heartless, but now was being peppered with thousands of hopeful, colorful sparks. Red enjoyed being reunited with Pikachu, who sat contentedly on his shoulder, while Mario and Luigi chuckled as they caught each other up on what had taken place since leaving Smash Planet.

It was an almost universally happy occasion—except for Kirby, who in spite of everything, couldn't help but wish things with Magolor had gone differently. Were all the members of Organization XIII permanently corrupted, doomed to serve Xehanort until death? And if so, what did that mean for Dash Bowman…or Red's father, Quentin? Was it possible that Xehanort had been right all along—that the Smash Universe was beyond redemption? He shook the thought away and swallowed another plate of spicy meatballs, which had a remarkably explosive flavor, reminding him vividly of Chef Kawasaki's Super Spicy Curry back in Dreamland.

* * *

The next day, there were two small items of business to address before the Smashers departed. First, Kirby and a few others went out to retrieve the _Lor Starcutter_ , which had been left floating outside the planet in perfectly good condition (which was more than could be said about its previous owner). The Smashers ultimately decided to leave it on Planet Bomber for now, for they still had two Vassals to hunt down in space, and any number of things could happen to the _Normandy_ and the Great Fox in that time. They did, however, take the liberty of borrowing some of its vast supply of Dream Water to augment their Heart-Softening lasers.

The second item was spearheaded by Slippy, but also with the aid of Mario's OmniWrench and Luigi's Omni-Tool, both of which helped speed up the process of repairing the damage sustained by the various ships during yesterday's battle. Amanda offered her help out of sheepishness for causing some of the damage, but unfortunately her technical knowledge was far below Slippy's and could offer little. Wolf, on the other hand, couldn't resist contributing snappy, insulting advice, which was admittedly accurate, but Slippy ignored it and tried to find another way to solve whatever mechanical problem was at hand if at all possible.

Finally, in the early afternoon (at least, according to Planet Bomber, which revolved around a different sun than Smash Planet or Lylat), they were ready to go. Pacman and Bomberman and a good number of other Bombermen came to see them off—mutely, of course.

"I wish you could a-come with us," Mario said, shaking Pacman's and then Bomberman's hands (Bomberman's was like a wimpy gear shift, which was quite awkward to grasp, but Mario made the best of it).

Pacman nodded. "Me too; but with Dreamland, Popstar, Planet Bomber, and a few other outlying planets now free from the Heartless, they're gonna need us to inform them on what's going on and to help them readjust to normal life."

Bomberman added something with several gestures.

"He says remember the borders between the Vassals' stewardships don't work the same in space as they do on Smash Planet, so be careful out there; the Heir of Lylat or the Unknowable could show up at our doorstep at any moment. Also, when in doubt, blow it up."

Mario raised his eyebrows, while Bomberman rolled his eyes and Pacman grinned.

"Okay, so I made that last part up," he admitted. "Anyway…good luck! We'll see you soon—once outer space is finally free of the Heartless."

"Bye!" Sora said, and various other Smashers and Lylatans said their farewells before boarding the _Normandy_ and the Great Fox. The two vessels slowly rose into the air, set their coordinates for the portal James McCloud had said would return them to Lylat, and blasted off into the atmosphere.

* * *

This time it was a solid two days before they reached the next portal. Now the Smashers were all reunited on the _Normandy_ , except for Fox, who stayed with his friends on the Great Fox. Sora had joined the latter party as well, for it had been agreed that in the event they encountered Dash Bowman sooner than they anticipated, the boy with the Keyblade ought to have immediate access to the Lylatans' knowledge and swift transportation to do what must be done.

But to be honest, Sora rather wished he was on the _Normandy_ playing cards with Red and the others; these anthropomorphic pilots were friendly for the most part, but there was a lot of obvious tension on board. Conflicting personalities like Wolf's temper and Falco's standoffishness, Katt's wild spirit and Lucy's methodical mind, and even Fox's overprotective impulses and Krystal's stubborn intuition made for an interesting but often socially uncomfortable ride. He really appreciated the few more down-to-earth ones, like Bill and Slippy, who asked him about his world—something he found both therapeutic and painful.

"We're here," James said after the second day, bringing most of the passengers of the Great Fox to the front. They looked out to behold an oddly shaped green nebula, within which their portal was supposed to be concealed.

Sora looked uncertain. "You sure about this? I've had some pretty bad experiences teleporting to places unannounced. I feel like this could take us almost anywhere."

"Ten bucks says it takes us to Sector Y," Falco said. "Also, in case you haven't noticed, kid, we've been going pretty much everywhere unannounced these days. We're Team Star Fox; it's part of the job."

"Hmph; speak for yourself," Wolf said, arms folded.

"Here we go, fellas!" Peppy announced as they entered the nebula.

A minute of strange silence followed while the space around them darkened, then filled with a lime-green glow which concealed the galactic panorama. But soon enough, they came out. In Sector Y.

"Called it," Falco said as they emerged into a wide stretch of empty space occupied only by the debris of destroyed spaceships—very similar to Sector Z.

Wolf turned and stalked off toward the docking bay, as if personally affronted by the correctness of Falco's prediction.

"Where are you off to, Wolf?" Fox asked. He was about the only one there with the combined boldness and sincerity necessary to ask this question.

"I'm taking the Wolfen for a spin," he growled, and departed.

* * *

Wolf O'Donnell relished the rush of spiraling through the space debris, chasing some invisible target that ever evaded his capture. He imagined the days of old, when he and his team would square off against Team Star Fox, often dealing major damage before allowing those ragtag chumps to move on. Star Wolf had been a quartet, and then a trio, and then a duo of special-assault Wolfens, collecting rich rewards for accomplishing impossible missions, inspiring fear and awe within all who heard their name. All except Fox and his headstrong teammates, that is.

In a sudden burst of frustration, he yelled and blasted a chunk of metal in front of him, sending shards flying in every direction. Why had his team fallen so far? He decided that, somehow, it wasn't just Andrew Oikonny's stupidity; it wasn't just Pigma Dengar's insatiable greed, or Panther Caruso's selfless sacrifice, or Leon Powalski's refusal to yield in battle. It was the Hand of Fate—some unseen force that had orchestrated the ruin of his life. That had dictated his team's failure, and had now let this Xehanort person wreak ruin upon the entirety of This World. Fate was cruel, and unjust, and he hated it.

Suddenly another Wolfen came up beside him, and within the cockpit was a reptilian face he knew for a fact was in a million pieces right now.

"Hey Wolf," Leon rasped. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself. It's unbecoming of the wonderfully vicious ambition you carry inside that fuzzy heart of yours."

"Indeed," Panther mused, and Wolf turned his head in shock to behold the black panther's Wolfen on his other side. "It seems to Panther that our dearest leader, our captain of sundry sojourns, has developed a distaste for his own destiny. Mmm…yes…Panther has seen the gorgeous distress on many a maiden's tragic face when he parted from them, but nothing matches the exquisite despair which complicates your own."

"Get out of my head!" Wolf howled, speeding past what he assumed were illusionary apparitions and making an abrupt turn to outfly them. Yet seconds later, both were back on either side of him.

"Look," Leon said. "I know we're dead and all, but that doesn't mean you can just ignore us like yesterday's killings. The only reason we're here is to make sure you don't end up like us."

For the first time, Wolf considered the possibility that these really were his two deceased wingmen, come to deliver a message. It was a little too surreal to register right now, but he went along with it. "And how exactly do you expect to do that? No offense, but neither of you are great authorities on survival."

"Ah, but it is not just survival, is it, Wolf?" Panther crooned. "There is more to life than simply living, is there not? That is why dear Krystal was never fully satisfied living in the tragic romance of her beloved Fox's shadow. That is why Panther preferred death to a half-life as an Aparoid host. That is why every once in a while, it might just be worth it to, as our eloquent friend Leon would say, 'give a damn.'"

"Yeah, well, it's not like I'm anyone important," Wolf muttered. "Those Smash Brothers—they're the chosen ones. I'm just a casualty of all their screw-ups, of Master Hand's and Andross's and every other supervillain's stupid schemes."

At that, Leon smiled rather creepily. "That's where you're wrong, Wolf."

And that, of course, was when they left Wolf alone again, leaving him both literally and figuratively in the dark.

* * *

There was a bit of disagreement on the best route to take from Sector Y to Venom—which was surely where they would find Dash Bowman if he had really taken his grandfather's loathsome legacy to heart. There were three options: they could go north through Sector Z, south by way of Fichina, or straight across the fringes of Solar.

"Sector Z's a bad idea," Falco said. "Trust me—Katt and I were hanging out over there specifically because the place is crawling with Heartless, as empty as it might look. We knew no one would bother us out there, but now that we're purged, there's no way we'd get through in one piece—even with the Great Fox and the Smash Brothers." Katt nodded her assent.

"Fichina's not looking so good either," Lucy said, frowning as she typed furiously into her laptop computer, which was displaying all kinds of meteorological data. "That entire region's caught up in some nasty solar winds from Solar's nearest side. Kinda weird, actually; I've never seen flares on just one side of a star before…"

Slippy paled, the thought of the remaining solution already causing him to sweat. "Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it means."

Bill patted him on the back consolingly. "Solar it is. That's the most direct route anyway."

"As long as we steer clear of those flares, we should be just fine," Peppy said, glancing at Fox's father. "James and I used to outrun Andross's goons around there all the time."

James smiled. "Kinda wish we let Pigma fly himself into the star, looking back on it."

"Okay," Fox said and turned to the command center's communication system. "You guys hear that over there? We're going the Solar route, so loosen up your collars; it's gonna be a hot one."

"Fire!" Kirby cheered.

"Uh…okay," Luigi said, pulling at his collar self-consciously. Heat reminded him of Bowser's Castle, which didn't exactly contain a Disneyland's worth of good memories.

"Well," Samus said, enjoying the perfectly regulated temperature of her Power Suit, "the heat never bothered me anyway."

* * *

 **Solar**

 **Lylat System**

* * *

About six hours later, the searing brightness of Solar had grown large enough so that the heroes could see the huge flares curling out from one side, reaching out in the direction of Fichina and Sector X. It was brighter and significantly larger than Ness's sun, and almost as bright as Kingdom Hearts itself.

"And I thought _Wolf_ was a big ball of hot gas," Falco couldn't help sneering.

"This ball of hot gas could rip your throat out like a scoop of ice cream, Lombardi, so I'd watch myself if I were you," Wolf growled.

Sora watched with wide eyes as the Great Fox and the _Normandy_ drew almost adjacent to the roiling star. "At least we don't have to get any closer, right?"

Wrong.

But only because the two ships were quickly being surrounded by a throng of other ships, which had emerged from the darkness like a well-organized swarm of space piranhas. Arwings, in fact.

The Cornerian Fleet.

"Frick," Falco said.

"Incoming transmission." Legion broadcasted the message to both ships as scores of Arwings zoned in on the heroes, usually an encouraging sight—but now, it appeared that the Smashers were the enemy.

A familiar husky hound dog voice came over their speakers. "Star Fox…Smash Brothers…we have you surrounded. By order of the Heir of Lylat, you are under arrest for conspiring against the common good. Surrender and your lives will be spared. Resist, and we will have no choice but to respond accordingly."

"General Pepper?" Fox was as shocked as the rest. Clearly this was the Heartless speaking, not the noble general he'd known. But how had they known to find them here? "Please, you don't understand. Let us explain our mission; the common good of Lylat is exactly what we're trying to secure. Dash Bowman is using you as his puppet; he has to be stopped."

James looked like he wanted to add something, but decided against it. Things were complicated enough already without bringing the living dead into the mix.

"Let 'em come," Falco scoffed. "The _Normandy_ might not have hyperspeed, but we can fly circles around these suckers. Right, Katt?" He turned to where his unofficial girlfriend had been standing, but no one was there. "...Katt?"

In answer, the Catspaw disembarked from the Great Fox's docking bay and launched itself into space, but rather than attacking or fleeing from the fleet, it came back around and joined them.

"Sorry, Falkie…but the bounty on you and your Smasher friends was too good to resist."

"Wait a minute…" Over in the _Normandy_ , Red voiced the question running through all their minds. "You've been working as a spy for the Heir of Lylat all this time, even though we purged your heart?"

Katt laughed a wily feline laugh. "Not exactly, sweetie. See, Dash knew the Smash Brothers would come for Star Fox sooner or later, so he coated the Catspaw with a special alloy resistant to Heart Softeners, and hired me to go along with all your convoluted exploits until the perfect moment. And that moment is now."

"Frick," Falco said again, now trembling visibly and unable to say anything else. This was a strange sort of half-betrayal; he knew Katt would never have double-crossed them if she had been in her right state of mind, but the betrayal still stung.

"Very well," Zelda said. "But you will have to catch us first."

She then proceeded to garner her Triforce magic and channel it into an enormous manifestation of Nayru's Love. The blue crystalline diamond encased the two ships and then dissolved into a pulse of white magic, pushing the entire Cornerian Fleet out of control almost as effectively as an actual solar flare.

"Go!" DK yelled.

Neither Peppy nor Legion needed any further encouragement. They boosted the Great Fox and _Normandy_ respectively, speeding out of the fleet's reach and toward Solar.

"Are you crazy?" Slippy yelled. "We'll burn to a crisp!"

" _We_ won't," James corrected. "But anyone who tries to follow us too closely certainly will."

They had a decent head start before the fleet of Arwings were able to restabilize themselves and begin their pursuit. The sun seemed to rise up to meet them like an apocalyptic meteor, one that exuded such powerful temperatures that the ships began to sustain a steady amount of damage to their shields, and the insides of each began to heat up like ovens. The blindingly bright plasma surface seemed to seethe with an ancient anger that it was eager to unleash on anyone foolish enough to approach it.

A rainfall of lasers began pouring upon the two ships, but unlike Arwings, which were relatively vulnerable to heat, the Great Fox and the _Normandy_ were built to sustain extreme temperatures, at least to some degree. The few shots that hit their target, however, caused the insides to rattle like some other ludicrous vibration analogy that hasn't already been used.

But soon enough, Arwings began peeling away, unable to withstand Solar's wrath.

"It's working!" Ness said.

But every time someone celebrates, something almost inevitably gets worse. And in the case of Ness's comment, it was soon followed by two hideous newcomers which emerged like dragons _from_ _the plasma itself._

They were composed of large, triangular metal segments which spun at different rates, forming a snakelike chain like the Pokémon Onix. The "heads" were faceless, consisting only of two pincer-like prongs that glowed redder than Rudolph's nose. And attached to each surface of every triangular prism were spindly turrets, swiveling with an unsettling sentience like the legs of a millipede.

"If you will not come willingly," General Pepper said grimly from his command center back on Corneria, "then the Heir's creations—the Starcrawlers—will bring you to us."

"Open a-fire!" Mario cried.

A wave of lasers and missiles sallied forth from the _Normandy_ and the Great Fox, engulfing the two Starcrawlers in an incoherent mass of flame and smoke. After a few seconds, the smoke cleared.

Their attack had done absolutely no damage to the biomechanical beasts. That would have been too easy. In response, the Starcrawlers struck out, spiraling around their prey, and the turrets began to fire—not lasers or missiles, but concentrated black spheres of Heartless matter. The kind that corrupted whatever they touched.

"Evasive action!" Peppy said as he expertly swerved the Great Fox out of the way of the projectiles. In fact, he executed one giant barrel roll, deflecting whatever Heartless attacks that would have met their mark.

But the _Normandy_ wasn't so lucky.

"No!" Sora shouted. The Edenese spacecraft was barraged by black spheres from every side, which sank into the metal walls and spread their heart-darkening influence to everything—and everyone—inside.

"Peppy, jump to hyperspeed! Now!" James yelled.

But at that moment, one of the Starcrawlers bucked the Great Fox from underneath, digging a deep scratch with its scarlet pincers and conveniently damaging the ship's hyperdrive.

"Scratch that," Bill said. "I hate to say it, but we've gotta abandon ship."

Fox nodded reluctantly, taking Krystal's hand beside him. "Let's go, then."

Without another word, they raced out of the command center toward the hangar—all except for the piloting hare and his devoted daughter. Fox paused when he saw they weren't moving, even as the Starcrawlers began coming around for another attack.

"Peppy, Lucy, come on!"

But Peppy shook his head. "Lucy and I will hold the fort here; even if we're darkened again, we can't lose the Great Fox. Now go!"

Fox met Lucy's pleading eyes, then nodded again, even more reluctantly this time.

"We'll see you soon."

Fox, Falco, Slippy, Amanda, Wolf, James, Krystal, Bill, and Sora—all of them raced down the white hallway, red emergency lights flashing, alarms blaring. They couldn't see it, but at that moment the Starcrawlers were unleashing their second barrage of Heartless cannonballs, striking the Great Fox again and again.

"Come on, Krystal!" Fox urged as she took a sudden detour into her living quarters, grabbing something out of a drawer before joining the rest in their escape.

Finally, they reached the hangar and began pushing past film equipment to get to their ships. Then, a few steps into the room, the wide walls of the hangar darkened unnaturally, and Heartless began stepping through, zoning in on the escapees.

"Come get some!" Sora yelled as the Kingdom Key appeared in his hand and he struck forward, slicing the first Heartless in two.

"Hands off my prey!" Falco joined with his twin blasters, as did the other Lylatans with their own guns.

Wolf was the first to reach his Wolfen; then Fox and Krystal hopped into theirs, and Falco covered for James McCloud as he directed Sora into the back of his own Arwing, and then Falco hopped into his own Sky Claw as the hangar door opened.

But before Slippy, Amanda, or Bill could reach their fighters, hordes of Heartless began raining from the ceiling. Within seconds they overwhelmed all three of the Lylatans, even as the four Arwings and one Wolfen lifted off and sped out the opening.

"Slippy! Bill!" Fox's heart was continually battered by each friend he had to leave behind. But he shook himself out of it, narrowing his eyes. There was one way they could save their friends, and that way led to Venom. He pushed the lever that activated his hyperdrive.

"All ships, to Venom! Sending coordinates."

Once all five ships had been calibrated to stay together, they jumped to hyperspeed and boosted out of sight, slipping between the snaking triangular prisms of the Starcrawlers. Dash's creations had accomplished their purpose, infecting both the _Normandy_ and the Great Fox with Heartless. Neither ship, nor any of its occupants, offered further resistance. They were on Xehanort's side once again.

* * *

They cut off their hyperspeed jump outside Venom's atmosphere, the sickly yellow-green swirls giving it the appearance of a poisonous marble. For a moment, they hovered in silence, trying to process what had just happened.

"Those…monsters…" Krystal breathed, thinking of the nightmarish Starcrawlers. "They took all our friends away, Fox. We are all that's left."

"Yeah, if they darken the six of us, it'll all be over, and Xehanort'll win," Falco said.

Wolf just swore.

"Not if I've got anything to say about it," Sora said. "I didn't come all this way just to lose to Xehanort now! There's gotta be a way for us to get our friends back."

"There is," James said, and he looked over at Fox through his cockpit. "I know he was your friend, son, but he must be stopped. We cannot risk surrendering the entire Smash Universe by leaving Dash Bowman alive; with the Vassal's death, all of Lylat will be purged—including everyone we left back there."

Fox felt his eyes growing hot and wet. "You're right. I'm sorry, Krystal…but Dash has to go down."

Krystal said nothing, which worried Fox even more than if she had openly disagreed. Finally: "Let's go."

They entered Venom's atmosphere cautiously, forming a rough circle around Fox's Arwing to protect Sora. After all was said and done, they had to keep him alive; without Sora, they would have no hope of stopping Dash or any of the other Vassals, much less Xehanort himself.

Venom's surface was just as Fox remembered it: a vomit-colored wasteland covered in cracked boulders and arches. The toxic gas clouds ever maintained their eerie haze around the planet, the acidic Venom seas still steaming from when Star Fox had neutralized its waters during the Anglar Blitz.

But it was no longer abandoned. Clusters of fighters modeled after Andross's old army patrolled the skies and canyons, as if yearning for something to shoot. Undoubtedly they were piloted by the same kinds of savage simian lowlives who served Dash's grandfather before him. Some thirty miles beyond, they would find the tunnel which led into Venom's core, where they would surely find Andross's unruly grandson.

Falco smirked. "Look on the bright side: We might've been hesitant to shoot down our own fleet, however Heartless…but these guys, I don't think I'll have any problem teaching 'em a few crash courses."

"Best idea I've heard all day," Wolf said. He sped down toward the canyon that would provide them maximum cover and lead directly to the core. The rest followed suit, and their plunge into Venom's canyons began.

Their entrance did not go unnoticed. Strands and clusters of fighters broke away from whatever they were doing and came at Star Fox and Co. from the front, rear, and sides. Camouflaged turrets opened fire from the ground, and even better camouflaged rock golems called Golemechs emerged from the canyon walls, running and jumping at the ships and hurling big chunks of rock.

Obviously, this required a substantial reaction on the heroes' part. Fox and Krystal focused on the fighters, their Arwings spiraling around each other like two doves in love, knowing each other's flight patterns so well that not a single enemy laser made contact with either of them (and Krystal's mild telepathy skills didn't hurt either), whilst the fighters were blown apart as quickly as they came. Falco focused on the turrets, barrel-rolling to deflect the constant gunfire, while James McCloud performed an extraordinary feat—executing a U-turn and then angling his Arwing sharply so that he could zigzag back and forth, picking off pursuing fighters without falling behind the rest.

But as amazing as James's maneuver was, it paled in comparison to Wolf's. The outlaw smirked as the enemies approached from all sides.

"Finally."

He activated a newly upgraded feature of his Wolfen, one which he had funded by means of his usual shady channels of work. The ship lowered itself close to the ground as its dark red wings folded in on itself, a long gun barrel coming out of the top, the underside transforming into two sets of black tank tracks.

"A Landmaster?" Falco said, raising an eyebrow as he continued to shoot turrets. "Is that even legal?"

Wolf just laughed as his Landmaster accelerated, and he directed his sizeable gun at the lumbering Golemechs, blasting off rocky limbs and heads and rolling away from rock chunks and hovering over gaps when necessary.

Sora tried not to panic as the Lylatans engaged in this dangerous dance of lasers and crazy flight patterns. He held on tightly to the edges of James's cockpit as they tilted upside-down or sideways almost constantly. He'd been through a lot of unusual situations in Disney's many worlds, but he never could have imagined something like this.

What felt like hours was really only about twenty minutes, but it was an intense twenty minutes, four Arwings and a Landmaster fending off Dash Bowman's entire military defenses. Finally, James, Fox, and Falco each launched Smart Bombs in different directions, engulfing all fighters who dared approach from any side. The heroes burst through the end of the canyon. All other enemies were thoroughly terrified by the intruders' skills and succumbed to the Heartless cowardice which had been heaped onto their already rather rotten characters. This left the team free to approach the Millennium Falcon-sized hole which would take them to Andross's subterranean base.

"Is that it?" Wolf said smugly. He wasn't even acting snide toward Star Fox anymore; in fact, he had almost become, in a sense, part of the team.

Krystal almost closed her eyes to concentrate, then remembered she was flying a ship and just focused her mind on her troubled feelings. "No," she said. "I sense…there is something coming…"

From the sky descended a form that couldn't be real, and yet its terrible visage instilled a very real anxiety in all who were present (whether they would admit it or not). For after almost a decade, they were looking at Andross once again.

His colossal, wrinkly ape head was as sullen and ghastly as Fox remembered it; his livid eyes the same radiating hue of Solar, his crooked jaw and tombstone teeth grinning at them with manic pleasure. And, of course, who could forget his equally enormous, disembodied hands—a trope he had sported even before Master Hand had first shown his…hand.

"Bull toasties," Falco said at once. "Andross is long gone; whoever you are, you ain't him."

There was something about this Andross that caused Fox to intuitively know what was going on. He looked into those bulging eyes and caught a flicker of mechanical lens distortion.

"…Dash?"

The robotic Andross's laugh sounded as if Professor U. Reeka had inhaled a deep draft of sulfur hexafluoride, as low and booming as an earthquake.

"Very good, Fox. I'm pleased at least a few of you made it here. The rest, unfortunately, I'll have to keep alive, for Master Xehanort's sake." He turned to one Arwing in particular, his mechanical expression registering curiosity. "And what's this…James McCloud? So you did survive Grandfather's experiments. Most intriguing. I'll have to study the effects the dark matter had on your corpse."

Krystal couldn't help herself any longer. "Dash, you are another of Andross's victims—not his heir. Please, let us explain. Let us help you."

To their surprise, the mechanical Andross nodded. "I would like to talk with you before we end this, Star Fox. So that you _all_ understand why you must die. And I'm particularly interested in meeting your little Keyblade Wielder; his heart is a scientific marvel—something the Mystic certainly understood before you did her in. So please…" Andross backed away to uncover the entrance into Venom's tunnels. "Ladies first."

With more than a little tentativeness, Krystal led their little flock in a nosedive down the hole, followed by Fox, and then James. But before Wolf and Falco could follow suit, they found their vehicles smacked backward by one of Andross's giant hands, the Sky Claw tumbling through the air, the Landmaster across the uneven ground.

Andross's sinister laugh echoed again. "Sorry, guys," he said. "Invited guests only."

* * *

The descent into Venom was like flying down some kind of horribly tobacco-stained, cancerous esophagus. They were going straight into the belly of the beast—a planet whose only fruits had ever been those of decay and destruction. It would have been impossible to see the way if the Arwings hadn't been equipped with lights, and it would have been equally impossible to navigate if Fox and James hadn't flown through it before—an experience that still haunted Fox's nightmares.

Once Krystal had given way to those who were knowledgeable of the correct route to the core, father and son led the way, the air pressure steadily increasing but fortunately more tolerable for Arwings than the blistering heat of Solar.

Fox half-expected his father to repeat those same chilling words he'd heard back then: "Follow me, Fox." But this time, it wasn't him being led to freedom by his father's wisdom; it was both of them flying together to set right a conflict that had lasted generations.

Sora couldn't decide whether this dark descent reminded him more of his journeys to the Underworld of the Olympus Coliseum, or of the computer world of the Grid where he had met Tron, or of the claustrophobic darkness of Monstro, the whale inside which Pinocchio and his father, Geppetto, had once lived. He decided the latter was the most accurate.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the tunnel opened out into the heart of Venom, the dotted yellow lines snaking and glowing through the darkness as if directing them to the laboratory at the bottom and the single Cornerian who was the brains behind it.

Dash Bowman merely watched from the shadows as the Arwings landed on the opposite side of the chasm, and the four heroes disembarked, slowly approaching the Vassal as a tight group. They walked past foreboding machines and buzzing tesla coils, making sure not to touch anything in the relative darkness. Finally, they came to a stop within speaking distance of their enemy.

Dash stepped forward. The light radiating from a tube of bubbling green liquid illuminated his still young, but warped, features. It was as if he had aged a decade in the space of three years, his dark officer's uniform allotting him a maturity beyond his years. His eyes seared into Fox's like daggers.

"How's the team, Fox?" Dash's voice was no longer deepened through the mechanical Andross. His eyes flickered over to Krystal. "You've finally let _her_ join, I see…but not me."

"You know it wasn't like that, Dash," Fox said. His heart was pounding faster than it had since…perhaps ever. "You were among the best of us; I'll admit I turned you down because I didn't want to give Krystal justification to join too. I was selfish, overprotective of her, and for that I'm truly sorry. But that doesn't mean you had to go join Xehanort! I had no idea you had that much hate inside; otherwise I'd never—"

"That's the thing, Fox," Dash said, pacing slowly now. "I _didn't_ have hate. I understood why you did what you did…but this is about so much more than team politics. Your rejection gave me the opportunity for my eyes to be opened to the truth—about my inheritance; my destiny; and all of our futures."

"Our futures?" James frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Grandfather may have been…overzealous. But he was far wiser than Corneria gave him credit for. Whatever his methods, he had begun unlocking the secrets of This World—of the Smash Universe itself. For example…you may know from the Three Brothers and from the Keyblade Wielder that there are other universes than this one. But are you aware that Ness's Earth is not the _only_ Earth? Are you aware that the history of This World…" He laughed bitterly. "Well, let's just say that Grandfather was more than justified in trying to centralize some power, in response to what has been—and in preparation for what's to come."

"Andross might've learned some things," Sora said, "but he's never _been_ to other universes like I have. And I can tell you the only thing that matters is this: Xehanort plans to erase This World forever, like he did mine, like he did to others'. Taking your revenge on Star Fox won't fix anything; it'll just end with all of us…dead."

James had been looking at Fox meaningfully, conveying a clear unspoken message: _Do it._ But Fox hesitated. He had his blaster at his side, but could he really shoot an old friend? Did it have to end like this?

"No!" Krystal cried as she saw not Fox, but James make the decision. The blaster whipped out during Sora's dialogue, and just as it ended, James McCloud fired one precise shot at Dash's heart.

Dash reached out with his hands—both glowing blue within strange, silky metallic gloves—and caused the shot to dissipate in mid-air. At the same time, he seized invisible control over the four heroes' bodies, freezing them in place.

"So this is the worth of heroes," Dash said. "At least, you call yourselves heroes, but when push comes to shove…you're really only out to save your own skins. A sad truth that I've had to learn the hard way. Pigma Dengar wasn't the only pilot in Lylat to demonstrate that instinct; you're _all_ the same. You're all self-serving swine. Now let me show you something."

With the lift of a single finger, a large screen appeared on the wall behind him, showing an intriguing scene: the Sky Claw and the Landmaster, going toe to toe with the robotic Andross. Falco and Wolf struggled to evade its attacks and blasted the eyes and palms as Fox had done in previous encounters, but those classic weak points no longer seemed to exist. So they were caught in a deadly dance.

"Two rogues," Dash mused. "No more selfish than the rest of you—just less worried about hiding it. And _that's_ why This World has reached its end: It really is 'ripe for destruction,' as Master Xehanort says. How long at this point? Based on my calculations of galactic phenomena, I'd say maybe a week from now, maybe even less; then it'll all be over."

That was a heavy chunk of bad news for them to swallow, and yet Dash all but glossed over it. "And as for survival, thanks to Grandfather's research, these past three years have enabled me to develop my own escape plan. After all…" He smiled at James. "Xehanort and James McCloud aren't the _only_ interdimensional beings in the multiverse." He then turned to Fox. "Isn't it sad to have your friends and idols let you down? But it's cool. I'm not angry anymore. I'll even do all of you a favor: I'll put you out of your misery." He pulled out a red trigger button and gestured toward the screen. "Starting with those two."

"Wait!" Krystal said. Somehow, her staff's magic had enabled her to break free from Dash's paralytic technology. She pulled out a small disk—the object she'd taken from her room before leaving the Great Fox. Dash watched her in astonishment, but he was even more surprised when Krystal didn't attack; she just drew closer to him, and offered him the disk.

"What trick is this, Kursed?" he spat, unable to put Krystal back under his control.

"You need to know," Krystal said simply, leaving the disk in his hands and stepping back beside her friends. "While I served you as Kursed, I gained access to the secret archives of the Cornerian vaults and stumbled upon this record. It concerns your parents."

Dash said nothing—but glared at her as he turned to one of the lab's computers and inserted the disk. Fox, James, and Sora were still frozen in place.

The screen displayed static, but after a few seconds it cleared to reveal a white interrogation room. The sole occupant was dressed in an orange straightjacket, but that didn't make Andross's crazed expression any less threatening. A voice came:

 _"Dr. Andross, what did you do with Gabriel and Marisa Bowman?"_

Andross smiled civilly, though that could never make up for the savageness in his eyes. _"Done to my daughter and her mate? Why, they have become part of the future. They have given me invaluable data points in cracking the mystery of interdimensional travel."_

 _"Did you kill them?"_

Andross paused, then his smile widened. _"Why, yes; yes, I did. We hear of miraculous births in myth and legend, but this…the dark matter…the black hole…these were the first miraculous deaths."_

The recording ended in more static.

Dash was silent, his expression even darker now if that was possible. He stared at the computer screen, even as Falco and Wolf struggled to survive in the background. Only Krystal could speak.

"Dash, you speak of failed idols…but you did not realize that _your_ idol was the greatest failure of all. I have read your thoughts, and I know what Andross has told you…but _this_ …this is the truth. He murdered your parents in the name of science. And he wanted you to do the same to others—not because he cared for you, but because he cared only for his twisted experiments."

Dash's face was unfathomable. He just kept staring at the buzzing screen, unable to speak, perhaps unable to think. He was apparently so distracted that his hold on the other three was removed. Finally:

"It's…too late."

"No it's not," Fox said promptly. "You can always come back to the light, Dash; look at Wolf! Look at Ganondorf! Look at yourself! Your real destiny is the one you choose—not the one that's chosen for you. Don't mistake family history for fate. Be the stalwart pilot you once were. Do the right thing: Help us save This World."

"But…" Dash looked down at his chest. Somehow, even though no physical harm had been dealt to him, a keyhole shape was flashing over his heart. "It's too late for _me._ "

"We'll find a way around that," Sora said. "There's gotta be a way to purge Lylat without killing you. The _Lor Starcutter_ …" He looked over at Fox. "It's got tons of Dream Water. We can use it to turn the Lylat System back to normal."

One step at a time, Fox came closer to Dash. They locked eyes on each other, like two ends of an electric circuit that were desperate to stay connected. Fox extended his arm toward Andross's grandson, silently pleading for the trigger that would undoubtedly do something unpleasant to his friends on the outside.

Krystal, James, and Sora watched in wondrous tension as, ever so slowly, Dash's hand clutching the trigger moved toward Fox's proffered one. The ape was shaking as if he had been disabled by Andross's experiments himself. The hand moved until it had placed the trigger in Fox's.

And then it pressed the trigger.

And Dash smiled.

"No!"

Fox felt himself thrust back once again and watched in horror as the results played out on the screen. The robotic Andross opened its dreaded maw and began inhaling with an almighty force, pulling Falco and Wolf irresistibly toward its mouth. Fox could almost feel the panic within both cockpits; the pull was too strong, and seconds later, both were being chomped inside by steel tombstones.

But instead of spitting them back out as Andross was wont to do, the robot began to shine a blinding white. And then self-destructed.

"Falco!" Krystal screamed. "Wolf!"

Dash raised his head and lifted his hands again, quickly using his superpowered gloves to freeze Fox and James. But he frowned as he noticed that this time, Krystal's staff had protected not only her, but Sora as well, within a sapphire shield. The Vixen pointed her staff at Dash with emotional exhaustion, as Sora did with the Kingdom Key.

In response, Dash's gloves generated a turquoise energy sword whose shape resembled a mix between a harpoon and a key, rings of energy glowing at the hilt. A Keyblade of his own.

Krystal and Sora ran at him, and the fight began.

It became immediately apparent why Dash had graduated top of his class at the Cornerian Academy. His technique was flawless, his movements methodical, his swings and jabs forceful. Even together, Krystal and Sora found themselves on the ropes very quickly.

The two heroes took turns swinging and ducking and parrying, even casting Fire magic from staff or Kingdom Key when they had a chance. But Dash, true to his name, was simply too fast, too well practiced for them both. He seared Sora's shoulder, eliciting a cry of pain, then used his gloves' power to shove a metal table onto Sora's back, pinning him underneath. The Kingdom Key slipped from Sora's hands and clattered far out of reach. Without looking, Dash then caught Krystal's staff with his other hand, to her astonishment. His energy blade shifted from turquoise to scarlet, and with one savage overhand strike, he severed the staff in two, relinquishing it of its powers.

The kickback of the staff's destruction pushed Dash back a little bit, but blasted Krystal off her feet, sending her into one of the walls with bone-splitting force. She sank to the floor unconscious.

"Krystal!" Fox yelled. He turned back to Dash, his face now burning with tears. "You monster! I'm the one you want, Dash; you have your revenge. Kill me—just let the rest of them go. I'm begging you!"

Dash shook his head as he walked up to Sora's helpless figure. "Sorry, Fox. Even if I wanted to…there's no way Xehanort would excuse me for letting Sora escape. It's all or nothing…" He raised his Keyblade. "And you've struck out."

The Kingdom Key pierced Dash Bowman's chest from behind—a fraction of a second before it vanished and reappeared in Sora's hand as it always did.

The Heir of Lylat's body began to transform into pure white hearts from the legs up. As his defeated expression became bright particles, his last word lingered in the air.

"Fox…"

In Dash's place stood Wolf O' Donnell, now empty-handed, his fur and clothing singed badly, but his body very much alive. He stared at the place where Andross's last descendant had disappeared with the disgust of a kid with peanut allergies staring at a jar of Jif.

"You failed this kingdom, and all that junk," he muttered.

Fox and James, now free, hurried to lift the heavy table off of Sora's back, helping him stagger to his feet. Fox looked at his onetime rival with desperate inquisitiveness.

"When that thing started to suck me in, I ejected from the Landmaster at the last second," Wolf explained, "then slid down the tunnels and wound up here."

"And…Falco?"

Wolf's expression registered a rare emotion: genuine remorse.

"I'm sorry, Fox. Falco's gone."


	29. Chapter 22: Puppet Masters

" _To honor the sacrifices of those who have passed on…we must move on from the past."_

 _ **~Meta Knight**_

* * *

Chapter 22: Puppet Masters

* * *

 **Venom**

 **Lylat System**

* * *

 ** _I_** t didn't take long for the _Normandy_ and the Great Fox to reach Venom and retrieve their missing passengers. Dash Bowman's death precipitated the purge of all of Lylat, and fortunately that did in fact include the Smashers who had fallen victim to the dreaded Starcrawlers of Solar. Within a few hours of defeating the Heir of Lylat, Sora, Fox, James, Krystal, and Wolf were aboveground once again, watching their missing friends descend through the yellow-green air. It was still rather frightening how close they had come to losing everything because of that one ambush. But once again, the Smash Brothers had slipped by with a narrow victory.

Still, as Mario, Peppy, and the rest came out and rejoiced in their newly purged hearts and their newly rediscovered friends, Fox had a hard time finding any joy in their triumph. With the loss of his closest wingmate, Falco…nothing else really seemed to matter.

Before anything else was done, Team Star Fox took a moment apart from the rest to stand amidst the mechanical Andross's remains and pay their respects to their fallen comrade. Katt Monroe looked particularly numbed by the loss; there wasn't even anything left of Falco to mourn.

"Falkie…you were taken before your time," she whispered, staring at the ground. "And if I hadn't betrayed the Smash Brothers back on Solar, maybe I could've…could've…" She began to sob. Amanda and Lucy were quick to console her.

"You had the heart and spirit of a hero, young'un," Peppy said. "The world's a little less bright without you."

Slippy, who had already cried himself uncontrollably dry, went next, his lips trembling. "I can't believe you're gone," he said simply. "After all we've been through."

"You will be missed, my friend," Krystal said.

Fox, even with his father supporting him at his side, found the long, eloquent elegy he had planned totally inadequate. Instead, he just said with an ironic smile, "See you around, flyboy."

Falco's death was also keenly felt by the Smashers—especially Samus, Red, Zelda, Yoshi, and Ness, who had grown closer to him during their adventures aboard _The_ _King's Krystal._ But they knew it still couldn't compare with the witty bird's lifelong friends, so they allowed the Lylatans their privacy until they were all ready to move on. But before leaving Venom, they still had to decide where the Smashers would be moving on _to_.

"Are you a-coming with us?" Mario said, asking the Lylatans the question all the Smashers had been wondering. "We could use your a-help to track down the last missing a-Vassal."

Peppy spoke for the rest. "You know I'd be darned if it wouldn't be a real pleasure to keep helping you Smash Brothers out," he said, looking at the other Lylatans around him: Lucy; Slippy; Amanda; Bill; Katt; Wolf; Fox; James. "But we've got a newly awakened Lylat to take care of. General Pepper'll need all our help cleanin' up the mess the Heartless caused the last few years. We'll keep an ear out for any word of this Unknowable fella, and we'll be here if you need us, but I think it's best if we leave the Vassal-fightin' to you folks."

"Sauria needs me," Krystal added, sharing an understanding look with Fox. "And Corneria and the other planets…Lylat must come back together for its whole heart to heal."

Fox nodded and turned to Mario. "I'll be coming with you, of course; sounds like you'll need me to help deal Xehanort the finishing blow."

"As will I," James said. "I have no business in Lylat, and there's always a chance my interdimensional experiences might uncover information that'll be helpful during the rest of your mission."

"Thanks for everything," Sora said, shaking Wolf's claw first, considering _he_ had dealt the most recent finishing blow.

Wolf smirked. There was a kind of peaceful satisfaction on his face. "Just make sure we didn't go through all that for nothing, kid."

So it was that the _Normandy_ and the Great Fox parted ways, all who were bound to leave Lylat inside the former except for James, who tagged along in his Arwing since there was no room in the docking bay for two extra ships. It was a reluctant parting for two reasons: First, because the Smashers knew they were leaving Lylat in a state of disrepair; and second, because they had no idea who or where the Unknowable would be, except…somewhere in space.

* * *

"So, Captain Wormhole." DK had adopted Falco's nickname for James McCloud as they flew past Sauria, having already crossed through the Zoness region and the now Heartless-less (?) Sector Z. "What's the Universe telling you these days?"

James frowned as he responded from within his cockpit. "Unfortunately, nothing. I've heard of this Unknowable Vassal, but only faint rumors about it having mysterious powers nearly as corruptive as the Heartless themselves. The F-Zero Federation…the Galactic Federation…Earth…Eradinus II…Tuchanka…it could be in any of these systems that have yet to be purged."

Red turned to Kirby. "You got anything?"

"Nope!" Kirby said.

Zelda sighed. "This is more than unfortunate, Smash Brothers. If what Dash Bowman said is true, and Xehanort is bringing This World to an end within the week, then we have very little time to find the Unknowable, defeat it, return to Nintendo, confront the four remaining Vassals there, and take on Xehanort himself."

There was a silent tension. Until Zelda had worded their predicament so clearly, most of them hadn't registered a full sense of their perilous predicament. There was an urgent need to find this mysterious unknown member of Organization XIII, and yet now, when they needed some kind of supernatural help more than ever, the channels of the Hand of Fate or whatever other external information source seemed to have closed off to them. Time wasn't just running out; it was about to be gone. Permanently. And here they were, floating in the vastness of space without a clue.

That was when Samus realized: This was her moment. "I think I know where to start," she said. "Before the Heartless came, Snake and Jody Summer and I investigated reports into strange F-Zero racer killings taking place around their Federation. The murder weapon belonged to Captain Falcon's nemesis, Black Shadow…but we found his corpse on Synobazz, dead long before the killings began. I think…I think this is all connected somehow."

Yoshi nodded. "From all that I've seen on this journey, our mission has led us not only to stop the Vassals themselves, but to bring peace and solve problems unique to each of the kingdoms. I'll bet if we can solve that mystery, it'll take us to the Unknowable."

"Pikaaa," Pikachu said doubtfully, indicating, "Still, it's a bit of a stretch."

"Yeah, it is," Fox said. "But didn't you guys say we're supposed to find _all_ of the original Twelve Smashers? It looks pretty likely that Jody Summer is meant to fill in for the Captain's place—her brother's place. We could head to Port Town, find Summer, and look into this Black Shadow business all at the same time."

"Sounds a-good to me," Luigi said.

Mario agreed. "Let's a-go!"

"Recalculating route," Legion reported from its chair as if it were a GPS voice. "Course set for Port Town. Estimated arrival: six days, seventeen hours, and forty-two minutes."

"Whoa there!" DK said. "Six days? That's way too long. The world'll end before we even get there."

To their surprise, James's chuckle came over the speakers. "No sweat, Smash Brothers. I'm Captain Wormhole, remember?"

* * *

Two hours later, they had traveled many thousands of miles and were coming up on Port Town, which was in fact its own planet but was known by the name of its major city. It was a pale, creamsicle-orange planet, not at all suggestive of the thriving intergalactic space port contained within its atmosphere.

"I can't believe we're almost done!" Red said. "We've come a long way…"

"Yeah, well, don't start counting your coconuts before they ripen, kid," DK said, pointing out the front of the windshield. "We've got company—and I doubt they're here to barter for bananas."

A futuristic white shuttle approached them—with a red-and-blue siren flashing on top. Most of the Smashers weren't familiar with F-Zero technology or culture, but they could guess what kind of visit they were getting.

Sure enough, a bright light flashed from the police shuttle, and both the _Normandy_ 's and the Arwing's engine and computer systems (minus their communications) immediately shut down, and they were left drifting helplessly through space. A channel opened on the ships' computers.

"Uh…we come in peace?" Ness said hopefully.

"Nice try, fugitives," a familiar female voice responded. The voice of Jody Summer—but completely back to her strictest Federation officer self. "But you're coming with me to the station—and then we're giving you straight to Xehanort."

"Not the Unknowable?" Sora said, also hopeful.

Jody snickered. "No one knows about the Unknowable. That's why it's called the 'Unknowable,' you idiots. No one's ever seen it and lived to tell the tale."

"Oh," Sora said.

"Preparing to activate tractor beam towing system," Jody said.

"What do we do?" Fox whispered. "You guys have those Heart Softener lasers, but our guns are down."

Mario responded with music—the music of the last Time Flute. It took him back to his days of using similar flutes in Subcon, an intangible mystique to its beautiful melody and emerald sparks that made its purgatory powers seem that much more miraculous.

Moments later, the _Normandy_ and James's Arwing had their power restored. Jody's sheepish voice came again, now her old, only sometimes pretentious self back.

"…Smash Brothers? How on earth did you get here?"

"Technically we came from Venom," DK said, deliberately misinterpreting her meaning. He was a monkey in space; he had to stay entertained and feel useful somehow.

Samus ignored him. "Jody, we're here for you. Some ghost in the Twilight Forest prophesied that in order to drive Xehanort and the Heartless away for good, we've got to destroy all of Organization XIII and bring together the original Twelve Smashers. Your brother was one of them."

"But…" One could picture the realization dawning on Jody's face through her trailing voice. "You want me to take his place. Samus, I don't think—"

"Oh, for crying out loud." Samus rolled her eyes. "Snake and I watched you Falcon Punch a UFO into Synobazz. I think it's pretty safe to say you inherited more than just that helmet."

"And if you're not the one, you'll be stopped by Xehanort's invisible borders sooner or later," Yoshi added.

There was a moment's silence. An intake of breath—the breath of a woman who had just had her entire world flipped rightside up after it had been upside down for three years.

"…Okay. I'll come. But unfortunately I really don't know anything about the Unknowable. You've got more of a lead than just a nickname, I hope?"

Samus smiled, and she spoke so smoothly that she almost believed what she said next herself. What she was about to propose was, in reality, founded on nothing but an intuitive hunch. "Oh, I've got a lead—and a bone to pick. With one of our old friends down in Port Town."

"And how do you propose to make your way through Port Town unnoticed?" Jody said. "All of you Smash Brothers are at the top of the galaxy's Most Wanted lists virtually everywhere."

"Exactly," Samus said.

It took a moment, but finally Jody understood and smiled. "Got it."

* * *

With the _Normandy_ (and James's Arwing) hidden safely on the dark side of a nearby moon, Jody Summer's police vessel angled into Port Town's misty amber atmosphere, and for a minute or two, they could see nothing out of the ship but clouds. Soon enough, however, they came out to behold the thriving space port below.

It was as if a myriad fleet of steamers had forgotten the laws of physics and decided to make like Captain Hook's pirate ship and rise into the skies. Port Town was teeming with sophisticated, armored ships bearing all sorts of cargo, their hulls iron gray or navy blue or rusty red. Instead of smokestacks, fins protruded from the top of the huge commercial boats like giant butter knives, jet engines affixed to the sides and sterns of each ship. Through the amber haze, one could just make out shimmering seas and clustered cities like glowing rashes on the planet's surface. Only Samus, Jody, and Legion seemed unimpressed.

"Corneria could take a page from your guys's commercial system," Fox said admiringly.

"We have seen better," Legion said—and by "we," it referred only to itself, as usual.

"Is that the station, then?" James McCloud, arms folded, inclined his head toward a tall spire which towered several hundred feet from ground level, its appearance rather reminiscent of the Space Needle, only much thicker.

Jody nodded as she took them down toward the station. "From there we should have direct access to the prisoner. I'll make sure the security cameras are put on a loop; and if we're lucky, we'll get you in and out of there without being seen."

"'If we're lucky'? That's a pretty huge caveat," DK said.

"Mario, look!" Luigi said, pointing out one window with his nose pushed against it. "It's a-R.O.B.!"

Mario, Ness, Red, and a few others followed Luigi's finger, and, indeed, situated on one of Port Town's airborne platforms was an enormous, unmistakable replica of Professor E. Gadd's trademark Robotic Operating Buddies. But which had come first—or had they both come into being independently? It was one of those chicken-or-the-egg questions that was interesting, but not particularly important.

They followed one of Port Town's winding F-Zero racetracks down to the station. A metal hatch slid open and permitted Jody to lower her police vessel into the station itself. They descended in almost complete darkness for a full five minutes, passing the blinking red lights that indicated other floors until they entered a hangar which was surely deep below the planet's surface.

Jody expertly landed the vessel inside an indented parking spot. Fortunately, this particular hangar was quite small, and at the moment, empty. The ship's doors opened to allow the Smashers out.

"This is the middle of the guards' shift, with the next patrol scheduled in about an hour," Jody explained as they followed her down a dark metal passage. It was unexpectedly cold down here—as if the windy outdoor air had been trapped inside and decided, out of bitterness, to remain frigid.

Jody took out a handheld device and began working on the station's security cameras, but frowned. "Hm…I'm having trouble getting a signal down here. Ever since the Space Pirate War, our tech's been manifesting some unexpected problems every now and then…"

"I got it!" Luigi said triumphantly, manipulating the holographic menu on his Omni-Tool as he had with the Great Fox on Katina. Sure enough, a nearby security camera's blinking light stilled to a steady red. Presumably, that meant a loop had been initiated.

Ness stared at the Edenese wrist computer, eyes wide. "I've gotta get me one of those."

They proceeded through the labyrinthine prison halls. Here and there, muffled thuds and shouts could be heard from behind one of the thick metal doors, which were locked with fingerprint-reading keypads backlit with blue LED lights.

"I'm gonna be honest, Aran," Jody said as they finally came to a halt in front of their destination. "I don't see how you'll get anything useful out of him. He's, well…he's not been in his right mind in years. Not since the war."

"Thanks, Jody," Samus said. "But I want to see him all the same. I've got a feeling there's a gem of truth in that thick skull of his, however muddled his mind might be."

"Suit yourself," Jody said. "Here we go, then." She typed in a 12-digit code, and with a click, the door slid open, allowing them to step into a small whitewashed room.

The only furnishings were a simple desk and chair, a few books, a metal cot with a thin mattress, and a toilet in the corner. Notably, the walls were actually padded, as was every surface, edges and corners blunted, no extra dishes or silverware to be seen. It was like a quaint blend between a cell and an asylum's isolation chamber.

The single occupant was reclined on the cot, facing away from them, two thick muscular arms behind his head.

"Goroh," Jody said.

The man sat up immediately and pivoted to face his visitors, the small piggy eyes of Samurai Goroh peering at them with puzzled surprise. A bandit gang leader who had been Captain Falcon's greatest rival on the track, Goroh's appearance had lost all the tough grittiness it had once carried. In place of his muscle shirt and leather vest, he was garbed in a bland orange prison uniform, his black hair overgrown and grizzled like an untrimmed mane, complementing his thick beard. Several long scars ran across his face and along his arms, visible even beneath the beard. His muscled torso had become somewhat pudgy, his six-pack replaced with a protruding belly. The "six-pack" overconfidence of his personality was also strangely absent.

Goroh just sat there and stared at the Smashers.

"Goroh, these are the Smash Brothers," Jody began. "You remember them from the Fourside Tournament and the War of the Hands?"

Goroh's mouth hung open for several long seconds, and just when Samus was about convinced that he was brain dead, he spoke in a gravelly hush.

"Smash…Brothers?" He padded his jumpsuit down, as if looking for something he wanted to give them—maybe a pocketknife to the chest. Then he abruptly brightened, and gave a loose-jawed grin. "I was in n' out during that whole Master Hand fiasco, until that four-eyed professor bailed me out of some mad scientist's lab." He stared at Samus, then Fox. "But I _do_ remember those two knocking me 'n my buddies off the racetrack over Big Blue."

Fox couldn't resist a grin. "Good times, eh?"

Goroh's expression darkened, and he cracked his knuckles in answer.

"We're not here to gloat or pick a fight, Goroh," Samus said, though her arm cannon was at the ready. "We're here because Xehanort's about to end the universe, and you might be able to help us get one step closer to saving it."

Goroh snorted and averted his eyes toward the opposite wall. "Let him end it, then. This World can go to Hell, as far as I'm concerned. That's all it's ever given me." He gave Samus a sideways glance. "Where's your boyfriend, anyway? I would've thought the Captain would have the balls to show up and ask me himself on behalf of your glorified fight club."

"Captain Falcon is dead," Samus replied flatly.

That actually sobered Samurai Goroh's expression—much more disappointment at the news than the glee Samus had expected of him.

"Real shame, that is," he muttered. "With the world ending 'n all, would've preferred him to be here to suffer through it. Guess his recklessness finally caught up with him; he never did have the patience to follow orders at the police academy."

Samus came surprisingly close to Goroh, facing him straight-on. Then again, she was in a Power Suit, and he wasn't.

"Tell me," she said. "Why did you incite the F-Zero Federation's lowlives to start the Space Pirate War? What was in it for you? Revenge?"

At that, Goroh chuckled. " _Me?_ Incite the Space Pirate War? You've got it all wrong, honeybunch. I mean, sure, I coordinated a bunch of the sector's underprivileged in rising against the BS of the Federation system. But I wasn't the mastermind behind the operation; it was Deathborn."

"Deathborn?" Jody froze with genuine fear.

"Uh…who's Deathborn?" Sora asked on behalf of literally everyone else.

"Deathborn was the greatest evil our Federation has ever faced," Jody explained. "He was a mysterious racer who employed Black Shadow to go after Captain Falcon in an elaborate plot to take over the universe. He _was_ known to cause F-Zero pilots to go missing from time to time, so that would explain the murders Snake and Samus and I looked into three years ago. He could've offed Black Shadow too and dumped him on Synobazz once he was done with him. But…" She stroked her chin. "The Captain took Deathborn down. I don't see how he could be back."

"L.O.G.'s a-Memory Paradoxes," Mario said succinctly. "Some of This World's worst a-villains, like Grunty the Witch, were brought a-back by them. It's not a-much of a stretch that one of the paradoxes could also have brought a-back Deathborn."

Samus turned back to Goroh. "Tell us more."

Ironically, at this point Samurai Goroh seemed to be enjoying the rare attention he was receiving so much that he forgot his previous determination to refuse to help the Smashers. "He was always up in the other Federation, working with that bounty hunter guild," he said. "I never really understood why…but he orchestrated the entire Space Pirate War this side of Smash Planet. Coordinated with General Scales in Lylat to wage war on our governments. The whole thing got a little bloody, I'll admit, but hey…the loot he promised was good, so how could I refuse?"

Samus glanced at the other Smashers. "Are you all thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Deathborn is the Unknowable," Zelda said.

Jody, however, was still in a state of disbelief. "If this is true, then we're all in bad shape. Deathborn was outrageously powerful before, and if Xehanort gave him the power boost he wanted, we won't stand a chance against him."

"Where can we find Deathborn?" Samus asked Goroh. "Is he nearby? You must have some kind of underground network to help us track him down."

Goroh chuckled again. "Even if I knew, why would I tell you self-righteous freaks? I might not be overly fond of death, but truth be told, Xehanort's been right all along. This World deserves to burn."

Without asking permission, DK gripped Goroh by the front, lifted him up, and slammed him against the wall.

"Are you overly fond of broken bones?" he asked, his other fist raised.

Goroh's eyes widened. He might have been apathetic to the whole saving-the-world business, but he could still feel pain. "All right, all right! I'll tell you! Just tell the ape to put me down!"

DK looked to Mario, who nodded, and the Kong let Goroh collapse onto the cot. Goroh took a moment to catch his breath before speaking again.

"Last I heard," he said, "the Unknowable was out on Zebes, hunting down the remaining bounty hunters that refused to side with him in the Space Pirate War. Crateria, I think the place is called. There, I told you…now leave me alone!"

Jody smiled. "Do as he says, guys; we've got what we needed."

They all filed back out, until just Samus remained with the man. Samus looked at Goroh one last time—a pathetic, wretched man, but another painful reminder of the Captain.

"Enjoy your stay," she said, slamming the door shut behind her.

* * *

As they made their getaway from Port Town, again in Jody's police cruiser, Mario wistfully watched the airborne commotion of sky traffic, thinking about Bowser's fleet of airships, and about Princess Peach. They had no more than six days now to stop Xehanort. He hadn't thought about the Nintendo World they had left behind in a while, being caught up in the craziness of finding the Vassals. But he took a moment now to appreciate why they were doing this, and what exactly they were saving.

"You never mentioned," Zelda said to Jody. "How have the Heartless impacted the people of the F-Zero Federation?"

Jody smiled ruefully. "To be honest, a lot of us were well on our way to damnation already. The F-Zero Grand Prix…it might be grand, but it's a cesspool of disgusting characters, of greed and underhanded tactics. More than anything, the Heartless here bring out the extremes of competition—violent rivalries; shady alliances; excessive gambling. You'd probably get a good idea of what most of us are like if you combined the Pianta Casino in Fourside with the Holy Spirits saloon in Sanctuary."

"Oh," Red said, involuntarily reliving the chaos of their Pandora adventures in his mind.

Incredibly, they reached the small moon with the _Normandy_ and James's Arwing without incident. Jody's police cruiser had been a perfect disguise; after all, no one looks too closely at law enforcement for fear of looking suspicious themselves. Jody decided to leave the cruiser there since all Federation ships were implanted with tracking beacons, and the Smash Brothers were not particularly interested in being followed right now. So without further ado, they lifted off the moon and bade farewell to Port Town.

"It's really too bad we didn't take the Great Fox," Fox said as they headed out into open space. "We could've jumped to hyperspeed and been at Zebes in just a few minutes."

But his father disagreed from within his Arwing. "That wouldn't have worked, son. The Starcrawlers severely damaged the Great Fox's hyperdrive; it would have taken even Slippy at least a week to fix. No…this is the only way."

"Speaking of which," Yoshi said, turning to Samus, "how long will it be to Zebes?" He, too, was thinking of home—Yoshi's Island—and of how precious little time he had left to save it.

Samus was grateful the others couldn't see the exasperation she was feeling. "There's good news and bad news. The bad news is according to James, there are no wormholes nearby linking to the Galactic Federation, so at our current speed, it'll take us six and a half days to reach Zebes."

"Crap," DK said.

"The good news," Jody said, "is there's a Galactic Highway that will speed up our journey considerably. It's a vast network of charged electromagnetic particles which will carry us toward Elysia like a swift ocean current."

"And from there, it's a skip and a hop to Zebes," Samus finished.

"What's the catch?" Red asked, for once thinking about a potential catch that had nothing do to with Pokémon.

Fox could work out the rest. "We'll be in open sight of public traffic. If any highway patrols decide we're suspicious, that'll mean trouble."

"Pikaaa," Pikachu remarked, which meant something along the lines of, "I had no idea that space highway policemen were a thing."

"We should be fine," Jody said. "I know the police force, and a ship like the _Normandy_ won't stand out that much. They're more interested in Space Pirates bootlegging Phazon between the Federations."

"Phazon?" Zelda asked.

"An aggressive radioactive superorganism that corrupts and destroys ecosystems," Samus explained. "Its host planet, Phaaze, was destroyed long ago, so it will soon go extinct. We don't need to worry about it."

"O…kay," Ness said.

"There it is," Jody said, directing Legion's attention to what looked like a wide, snaking nebula of silver particles running from Port Town far into the distance, splitting off in several directions as well. The silhouettes of other commuting ships could be seen through the silvery dust.

"Engaging the Galactic Highway," Legion said, and boosted them into the current, followed close behind by James's Arwing. Several Smashers were knocked off their feet, having received no seatbelt warnings. Luigi's head, again, became the unfortunate recipient of Donkey Kong's posterior.

It was like being on a roller coaster that suddenly accelerated, bearing its passengers along its designated course—voluntarily or otherwise. The airless space around the _Normandy_ was all a silver blur; every now and then other ships would flash by, though for the most part the sparse traffic maintained a steady speed.

And yet their trip along the highway was surprisingly, almost worryingly smooth, considering the fact that they were rocketing through space at some strange cross between hyperspeed and the standard rocket's measly 20,000 miles per hour.

In fact, people on the _Normandy_ soon lost interest in their surroundings and wandered off to otherwise occupy themselves. Most went to their living quarters to sleep after their nonviolent but still stressful business in Port Town.

Fox, still feeling restless after facing Dash on Venom, actually called his father into the _Normandy_ , having James land his Arwing in the docking bay while Fox took his own for a spin. The fact that they could do this while traveling at such high speeds spoke to the miraculous sophistication of the Federations' highway network, and of space technology in general. Like the Master Chief had told Zelda, space truly was a place where they had to become one with the technology.

"I've seen those eyes before," James McCloud said, coming to stand beside Red on the command bridge. They both watched Fox spiral through the air, coming a little too close to other ships at times and then indolently swerving out of harm's way.

"Huh?" Red turned to look at the pilot.

"They're the eyes of a son who's lost his father," James said.

Red averted his gaze. "Well, you're right about that."

James's sunglasses glinted as he cocked his head to observe the young Pokémon Trainer. "The question is," he said, "do you still hope to find him again?"

That prompted the boy, for some reason, to explain everything to this near stranger: how his father, Quentin, had left when he was little; how Quentin had come back into his life during the Copyright Wars and taught him incredible lessons about the power of the bond between a human and a Pokémon; and how his zeal for Pokémon's freedom had led him down a dark path that had almost ended in a genocide of Kanto's human population, but in actuality had turned Quentin into one of Xehanort's Vassals. Red hadn't talked about his father in this much detail to anyone, but there was something about James McCloud that made Red feel like he could confide in him.

James was silent for a moment after Red had finished his story. He seemed deep in thought. Finally: "When Andross took me away from my home, from Fox, I thought my world had ended—and in a very real way, it had. But when I found him again…Red, no connection is more powerful than that of a father's love for his child. I might not know your dad, and I haven't been afflicted by Xehanort's temptations personally, but I can tell you this: In spite of everything Quentin may have done, he's still your father. Never give up on him; there is always hope that you can reach through the darkness in his heart and touch him, and remind him of what matters most."

"But…" Red wanted to believe James McCloud more than anything, but there were terrible images he just couldn't shake from his mind. "Even after what happened to Dash Bowman? I hear he almost came back to the light, but couldn't do it in the end. None of the Vassals could, except Ganondorf—and he paid the ultimate price for it. The only way my dad will accept me back is if I join him in enslaving Kanto under the Heartless."

James just nodded. "Even then, Red. Even then."

The interdimensional pilot walked away without another word, leaving Red in a somewhat distressed psychological state, but one with a renewed glimmer of hope. When the time came, he _would_ save Quentin. He had to.

* * *

Samus lay on her bed, helmet off, trying to get the image of Samurai Goroh's crooked smile out of her head. Then a knock came at the door of her small room, so she went over to open it.

There was no one there.

"Hello?" She looked both ways, but there was no one down either hallway. She shut the door and sighed. Probably just Kirby or DK playing one of their immature pranks.

A blue shape whisked past the outside of her small round window.

She raced over and peered out to see whatever ship had caught up with them on the Galactic Highway. When she saw it, her jaw dropped. It was an almost ridiculously bright blue, one-man F-Zero racer. A racer whose pilot was long since deceased. The Blue Falcon.

It slowed down until it was level with her window, but the Blue Falcon's cockpit window was so tinted that she couldn't see the pilot inside. Then, after a moment, it peeled off and exited the highway altogether.

Samus frowned. Had someone built a Blue Falcon look-alike in a futile attempt to copy the Captain?

"Hey, Sam."

She swore and jumped backward, her Power Suit slamming into the wall. Samus was so shocked that she didn't even raise her arm cannon. She felt no less frozen than when the Ice Climbers had struck her with a Freezy in one of the Smash Tournaments. Right in front of her, casually leaning back on her bed with his legs crossed, his dark-visored helmet immaculately in place, was Captain Falcon.

She tried to speak, but nothing came out.

Captain Falcon sat up, grinning his trademark overconfident (but endearing) grin. "Long time no see. You guys are making pretty good time in this rig, aren't ya?"

"F-Falcon," was all she could manage. Her heart was nearly in her throat, her mind constantly reminding herself: _He's dead. He can't really be here. You're dreaming._

"You're not asleep," Falcon said as if reading her mind. "Not literally, anyway. But in a different way, This World has been asleep for way too long."

"Asleep? What do you mean?"

"To its own reality, Sam," Falcon said. "To its destiny. To the natural order that was made unnatural."

Samus just shook her head and tried to clear her mind, closing her eyes for a moment before speaking. "I can't do this, Falcon," she said. "Whatever you are—a ghost…a voice in my head…you have to go. There's too much at stake for me to lose focus now. We're almost out of time, and the Smash Brothers can't find this last Vassal without me."

"I know," Falcon said. "That's why I'm here. Not because of how distracting my bod can be…" He subconsciously tightened his bulging biceps and pectorals, smirking. "But because there's too much at stake. You've gotta know something: Before this is through, Xehanort's going to test not just the Smash Brothers' fighting skills, but their hearts. He'll mix truth with untruth to convince you that all your efforts have been for nothing, that This World isn't worth saving. But no matter what happens…don't let him get into your head. Don't forget who your true enemies are. And for heaven's sake, don't let Jody dent my helmet; I polished that thing every day. Mostly for you."

Samus was trembling on her feet, her eyes hot and moist, and finally she broke down and rushed forward to embrace him.

She could actually feel his body there—the warmth of his muscles; the beat of his dead heart. Captain Falcon returned her embrace, holding her tight.

"Sorry I've had to miss out on all the fun, Sam," he said. "Believe me, going up in smoke with that frigate really sucked—'specially when I had to entrust your safety to that trigger-happy swamp fox." It was a nickname for Solid Snake which Captain Falcon had never used in life, but it seemed quite fitting.

"You left us," she said, her face now hot and moist in addition to her eyes. "You're one of the Twelve. How can we win without you?"

She felt his torso shake with laughter. "Don't be ridiculous; I'm not one of the Twelve." He pulled back to look Samus squarely in the eye. "That's the thing about prophecies: They tend to be not as strict as you might think. So if I were you, I'd quit worrying so much about the future or the past, and—"

"Focus on the present," Samus finished.

"No, Sam." Captain Falcon winked at her even as his body faded away, his last words hanging in the air.

"Focus on forever."

* * *

About 20 hours later, something rattled the _Normandy_ like an overzealous cell phone vibrator, and Fox's voice came from his Arwing.

"Red alert, guys! You know that puppet thing that attacked us back in the Asteroid Belt? Well…it's back."

 _Puppet?_ Mario wondered. He and the other Smashers raced onto the command bridge to view their high-speed predicament through the windows. And he balked at what he saw.

It was indeed Geno, his rocket-propelled feet and hands maintaining a steady course alongside the _Normandy_. And based on the shiny black holes of his eyes, he wasn't here for a friendly road race.

"I'm gonna take him down Star Wolf style!" Fox said.

"Wait, Fox!" Jody spoke into the _Normandy_ 's communicators. "If you collide with it on the highway, the inertia will rip your Arwing to shreds."

Mario narrowed his eyes as he looked out the window. He drew his yellow cape around himself and turned to Zelda. "Can you a-give me the same a-bubble from Planet Bomber?"

Zelda looked uncertain. "Krystal was there to focus my magic last time. But I will try…"

She closed her eyes and raised her hands, gaining easier access to the Triforce with each use. Within seconds, Mario's body was outlined in bright blue. Mario tipped his cap to her and turned to Luigi, Yoshi, and the rest.

"I've a-got to do this alone."

"Be careful, Mario!" Sora called after him as the plumber jumped through the nearest airlock, Superman-ing his way over to Geno.

Thankfully, there were no other ships in the immediate vicinity, so it was just them: Mario facing Geno as they sped alongside the _Normandy_ , Fox watching them closely from behind in his Arwing. It was like they were in a storm of silver glitter.

Mario, who along with DK, Samus, Pikachu, and Ness had been informed of the Geno incident in the Asteroid Belt, knew there would be no use in trying a Heart Softener. So he would have to make a different kind of appeal.

"Geno, it's a-me! Mario, and your a-friends! What did Xehanort do to a-you?"

Geno's face was even more wooden than actual wood. "Master Xehanort and the Heartless have given me a grand purpose," he said flatly. "I have long existed as a star spirit, inhabiting a puppet, allowing others to pull my strings. But now my eyes are opened to the truth: We are _all_ puppets of the Hand of Fate. By ending the Smash Brothers, I will please the Grand Puppetmaster, Xehanort, in such a way that he will, in time, grant me a real heart of my own. A will of my own. A fate of my own. Only then will I truly live."

Geno's two wooden fists detached themselves from his arms and rocketed toward Mario. Mario swung his cape, deflecting them back at his attacker, but the rocket fists simply reattached themselves to Geno's wrists. The puppet's dark eyes glinted.

"Nintendo's doom is written in the stars."

Geno raised his hands, and a moment later, thick columns of multicolored energy began raining from above. The attack known as Geno Blast lit the highway like a deadly fireworks show.

"Agh!" Fox yelled as his Arwing sustained critical damage, with one wing blown clean off. He veered wholly off the highway and out of sight.

An unfortunate dark gray cruiser from Eradinus II fell victim to several of the energy pillars. Huge chunks of the craft were blown off, and screaming passengers were sucked into space as a final teal beam finished it off with a bang.

The _Normandy_ itself didn't hold up well against the Geno Blast either; after ten seconds, the shields were already toast.

"Must evacuate to save ship's integrity," Legion buzzed over the communicators. The robot tilted the Edenese vessel sharply to the right, following Fox off the highway before the attack could finish the job.

"No!" Mario went after his friends without a second thought. He was thrown out into open space, his body twirling wildly from the sudden deceleration, and by the time he had slowed down enough to view the smoking ships below and Geno's deathly calm figure approaching, he feared it was too late.

"You've already got a heart, Geno!" Mario yelled. "Xehanort's a-lying to you. Fight the Heartless—we need your a-help!"

But the puppet just began charging his most infamous weapon: the Geno Beam.

"Every show must come to an end."

Mario cast himself at Geno, his fist careening toward the charging gun. But Geno tilted his body and met Mario's face with his feet, kicking him with the approximate force of an adolescent rhinoceros. Mario hollered in despair, not even aware of the pain signals his broken body was sending as the Geno Beam grew brighter. It was over.

A shining golden object speared through Geno's chest. Mario beheld what appeared to be some kind of space harpoon flash faster and faster and then detonate, sending shards of Geno in every direction. The puppet would likely reform again, but it had bought them a little time. Mario turned to the perpetrator.

It was an exceedingly odd sight: a rather traditional-looking UFO, but unlike the Starmen's dark gray saucers, this one was glowing an opulent trio of red, white, and blue. If it hadn't just saved all their lives, Mario would have laughed at it.

A strange, warbling masculine voice echoed out to Mario, Fox, and the _Normandy_.

"Follow me."

Its only explanation was to disappear into a newly formed circular portal of blinding whiteness.

The Smashers inside the _Normandy_ looked at each other with perplexity.

"Might as well," Ness said.

Legion's eye bulb flashed in acknowledgement before the robot accelerated them through the bright portal, followed soon after by Mario and Fox. The portal vanished quickly behind the Arwing, leaving the reassembled Geno once again unsuccessful.


	30. Chapter 23: The Unknowable (1)

" _The difference between him and me is that he keeps the monster hidden inside…while I openly embrace what I am!_

 _ **~Professor U. Reeka**_

* * *

Chapter 23: The Unknowable

* * *

 **Outer Space**

 **Galactic Federation**

* * *

 ** _U_** pon exiting the portal, Mario and Fox immediately returned to the _Normandy_ , leaving Fox's damaged Arwing behind since they had no means to repair such severe sabotage. Before the Smashers could completely catch their breaths from another close shave, a giant screen filled the entirety of the _Normandy's_ windows and broadcasted a figure whose queerness matched that of his patriotic-colored UFO.

He was a more or less stereotypical-looking alien, with pale green skin, a huge cranium, and big dark orbs for eyes. But what distinguished him was his sleeveless stars-and-stripes T-shirt, clashing awfully with his pure white surroundings and his sickly body. The warbly voice came again as he observed them like an old lady he had just helped across the street.

"You're not Edenese," he said with a touch of disappointment. "Too bad; I've had a real craving for Edenese brain tissue for some time. And Nintendonians always leave a yucky plum-garlic aftertaste—no offense."

"Uh…thanks?" Sora said.

"I'm Elvis, B-T-W," the alien said. "You might know my good pal Joanna down on Smash Planet. It's a good thing I was in the neighborhood to bail you fleshy lumps out; that puppet looked like you owed him a lot of money."

"So you're free from the Heartless too?" Yoshi said.

"Oh, heavens, no!" Elvis exclaimed. "No, the Heartless've just encouraged me to pursue some of my more erudite pet projects. Right now, I'm working on something special: My goal is to insult every person in the universe in alphabetical order. Speaking of which, you lumps wouldn't happen to know an Abner Buckwash of Novalis, would you? I couldn't find him anywhere, and I'm starting to wonder if he might be dead already."

DK's mouth hung open. "What?"

Elvis shrugged. "Oh well. I'm sure I'll be visiting each of you eventually. Good luck with whatever undoubtedly trivial business you have in the Galactic Federation. Toodles!"

A moment later, the red-white-and-blue UFO had disappeared through another white portal, and they were left alone.

"That was…something," Fox said.

Samus, meanwhile, was already conferring her Power Suit's galactic maps. She turned to Legion.

"Sending coordinates," she said. "Assuming this bucket of bolts holds together, we should reach Zebes in less than a day."

Jody shook herself out of her confused reverie. "Yes. Back to business. Let's go find Deathborn!"

The next day of travel passed in peace. Samus alone recognized the stars and planets they passed by, reminiscing about each stage of her troubled life—from Ridley's Space Pirate raid on her birth planet of K-2L, to her time among the Chozo, to her ensuing battles against Mother Brain and other sinister entities, taking her to exotic locations like Talon IV, and Elysia, and of course Zebes. It was home, and yet she had been away from the Galactic Federation for so long that she almost felt like a visitor.

"So," Jody said, watching the constellations from the command bridge with Samus and a few other Smashers, "tell us about Zebes."

"Zebes," Samus repeated, the pinprick lights of stars reflecting in her eyes. "It's where I was raised by the Chozo—an ancient race that took me in after my birth planet's colony was destroyed. Most of Zebes's sentient life lives belowground in Brinstar, or Maridia, or Norfair, because of the frequent acid rains. The Space Pirates used it for their headquarters for a while until I, well, dealt with them." She paused. An image of an exploding planet had crossed her mind. Had Zebes, in some other timeline negated by L.O.G., been obliterated?

"Sometime after that," she continued, "the bounty hunters formed a guild in my absence and often met on Zebes because of its remote location and its hostile environment that kept the Feds away. That whole time leading up to the Space Pirate War, I was on Smash Planet helping with the Smash Brothers' problems, so it's still a mystery to me what could have caused such a violent divide among the other hunters against the Federation. Maybe Deathborn offered them something that some of them couldn't refuse. I guess we'll find out soon."

Jody nodded. "I don't know about you, Aran, but I've heard enough tragic backstories for a couple lifetimes. Let's find Deathborn and finally get to the bottom of it."

Samus said nothing, but smiled, watching as a planet approached with swirling red designs not unlike Jupiter.

"We're here."

"I swear, if this is another desert planet…" DK muttered.

The _Normandy_ approached Zebes with caution, although this entire region of space seemed virtually destitute of life. They descended through the thick, swirling atmosphere, each passenger tensed for any number of potential conflicts. This could be where they found the Unknowable and put an end to him.

Crateria soon appeared below, a rocky wilderness composed of mountainous maroon and indigo formations. A few clusters of grass and morose, barren trees snuck up through some of the cracks, but otherwise it seemed almost as lifeless as Dr. Eggman's postapocalyptic Mobius.

But what really set the mood was the weather. A howling wind conspired with driving sheets of acidic rain to make it seem as if Zebes's atmosphere were having a perpetual temper tantrum. Even the _Normandy_ required significant corrections on Legion's part to avoid being driven to and fro by the buffeting gusts of chilling moisture.

"I'll take it from here," Samus said, relieving Legion of its piloting duties. She took control of the ship and began scanning the wet landscape, using the _Normandy_ 's strongest lights to penetrate the planet's blue haze.

"So where are we a-headed?" Mario asked as the rest of the Smashers filed back onto the command bridge to see Crateria's surface.

"Well, unfortunately Goroh wasn't specific about where on Zebes we'd find Deathborn," Samus said. "He and the surviving hunters could be far underground…but I have a couple ideas of where they might be hiding out. The Space Pirates were once based in a facility called Tourian, but I've blown that place apart multiple times. So we're first going to check out an old Chozo temple called Chozodia."

"Cool," Ness said. Neither he nor the rest of the Smashers had much to add; Samus was their only guide at this point.

Another hour passed as they crossed over Crateria. Here and there, lightning would streak across the sky, and thunder would boom through the spaceship's walls, as if the temper tantrum-throwing planet had found a bass drum and a sparkler. At length, a particularly steep cliff yielded to a much lower region, much of which was submerged in water. Against the cliff itself was a large, ancient-looking structure wrought of iron ore. It was mostly squared off, its perimeter lined with statues of solemn-looking, humanoid bird creatures—the Chozo. The other remarkable feature of this region was the back end of a spaceship sticking out of the lake, its disfigured engines standing as a sad monument to what had surely been a nasty crash landing.

Samus landed the _Normandy_ a quarter mile or so away from the temple and the lake, and they prepared to disembark. Samus cocked her arm cannon; Zelda drew Ryu's Dragon Sword; DK rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms; Fox, James, and Jody switched the safety off their blasters (with both Totem Brew and regular laser modes); and Sora generated the Kingdom Key in his hands.

Samus's Power Suit glowed brightly as its high beams switched on. Before descending the ramp to the planet's surface, she turned to the thirteen other party members (Pikachu was out of his ball, and Legion was staying in the ship).

"Stay on your guard," she said. "Bounty hunters are professional trackers and killers. I can handle any we might come across, but I'll need your eyes to keep watch on all sides. Feel free to blast any hostile life forms that happen to pop out. And above all, don't get separated. This planet and its inhabitants are not friendly to outsiders."

With that, they left their ship behind and exposed themselves to the cold wind and the driving acid rain, which stung exposed skin, so most of them hunkered down under their hats or the translucent orange umbrella Luigi had produced from his Omni-Tool.

They trekked across the rocky terrain in an almost hallowed hush, approaching the temple's judgmental statues whose empty stone eyes seemed to bore into the Smashers in silent warning.

"Pika!"

Pikachu cried out as a large grasshopper-like creature with a single huge turquoise eye jumped out from a cluster of grass. He Thundershocked the Beetom into oblivion before it could pounce and leech his life force.

Red had reflexively raised both pieces of the Cooper Cane, as startled as his Pokémon. "Nice one," he said.

They moved on, now warier of their environment than ever. Still, before they reached the temple, they were to have two more mildly frightening encounters. In one instance, a trio of floppy, manta ray-like monsters tried to surprise them from above, their undersides completely covered in ravenous, pointed teeth. Fox, James, and Jody made quick work of them, but gentle Smashers like Yoshi and Ness didn't appreciate the Choot guts with which they were splattered as a result.

And just before the temple, when they were closest to the miry ship wreckage, a huge pincered worm sprung out of the lake and latched itself onto Sora's ankle, quickly dragging him toward the water. Sora yelled and pulled helplessly against the Yapping Maw's merciless grip, but was yanked off his feet and dragged across the wet rocks.

The creature's pincers were parted from the rest of its spiky, segmented body as Zelda cleaved the Yapping Maw's head off with the Dragon Sword, water dripping through her bedraggled hair and down her grim face.

"Are you okay?" Luigi asked, pulling Sora to his feet. Zelda came over and bent down to examine Sora's bloodied leg. The puncture wounds were small but deep. She placed a hand on it and closed her eyes, calling upon the healing powers of Nayru's Love. Moments later, Sora was as good as new.

"Thanks," Sora gasped.

Zelda just nodded, and they moved on—that is, right after Kirby had finished consuming the remains of the Yapping Maw, which by the way he had been doing with every other creature they had encountered.

Finally, they stood before Chozodia. Samus brought them to a halt.

"Quiet," she said.

They stood there obliviously—until Samus dove to the side as a stream of blue electricity zapped the spot where she had just been standing. The Shock Coil's user leapt off the top of one of the Chozo statues and landed smoothly in front of them, arm cannon aimed at the Smashers—but more specifically, at Samus.

"Sylux," Samus said, quickly taking in the bounty hunter's midnight blue armor and the lime green streak running down the center of his helmet.

Sylux seemed not to care about how outnumbered he was. He had eyes only for Samus. "Samus Aran…welcome home."

The next Shock Coil would have struck Samus down had Fox not jumped in front of her at the last second, reflecting the beam back onto Sylux as James and Jody both shot him with several Heart-Softening segments for good measure. Sylux crashed onto his back, twitching as the electricity ran its course through his armor and body, but much more impacted by the Totem Brew's purging effects.

Samus approached the hunter and trained her arm cannon on his chest. "Feel better?"

Sylux did not seem afraid of death, and he was also surprisingly perceptive. "I take it you're here for the Unknowable."

The other Smashers gathered around him, ignoring the stinging rain.

"Talk," Samus said.

Sylux's speaker buzzed with gentle laughter. "How far we've come…I still remember our old hunting days, saving the Alimbics from Gorea. And then my humiliating defeat by that cursed hedgehog in the Fourside Tournament, and the war we waged on Master Hand's ilk. But before I say more, let me ask you something. How much do you know— _really_ know—about the Space Pirate War?"

"I know your hunter guild split and organized the Space Pirates against the Federation," Samus said. "You hate the Feds more than anyone…so I assume you were part of the separatists."

"You would think so," Sylux admitted. "But you haven't been told the full story, Aran. You and your Smash Brother friends…have _no_ idea what you're dealing with. Before Xehanort ever came to This World, the Unknowable was hard at work facilitating the Space Pirate War throughout the Smash Universe. It came to our guild one day and offered us a chance to seize power from the Feds, to rule this sector for ourselves. Kanden, Weevil, Trace, Spire…they were all for it. They accepted its offer. But the Federation-lovers…Gandrayda, Ghor, Rundas, Noxus…they couldn't stomach such a so-called betrayal. A betrayal I would have loved to take part in. Except…"

"Except what?" Jody said.

Sylux hesitated. "The Unknowable…it is a highly unsettling presence. Call it a gut feeling, or a premonition, or whatever…but I sensed that its motivations would have far worse ramifications than anything I've experienced against the Galactic Federation. So I stayed out of the conflict entirely, let the hunters blow themselves to oblivion. Ghor and Rundas both perished by the dissenters' forces, while Kanden and Weevil fell to a young Cornerian pilot who caught them by surprise. The rest, well…they're all wandering around Zebes now, hunting prey. The Heartless made us into more than just bounty hunters. Where before we would kill for a price, now we kill for the mere pleasure of it. For the thrill of the hunt. We travel often through the sector, of course, but we always come together here when the Unknowable visits, fearing its wrath above anything else. In fact, you just missed it. It was just here this morning."

"Deathborn was here?" Samus asked.

"Deathborn?" Sylux sounded confused, then shook his head. "I have never heard that name. The Unknowable should be familiar to you, Aran—after all, it looks just like you."

Samus was taken aback. That image of a dark blue Power Suit flashed in her mind again. "What?"

"We call it the Dark Hunter," Sylux said. "From my understanding, it is a being born of the corruptive substance Phazon. And Xehanort has named it Vassal over this part of the universe."

"Wait." There were many parts of Sylux's story that didn't make sense, but one thing stuck out to DK. "If the Unknowable was just here to visit you and the other hunters, and they're all still around, what exactly are they hunting?"

Sylux seemed to be looking past them toward the lake. Samus had a feeling if his face was uncovered, he would have been smiling.

"You."

Suddenly, four other figures emerged through the planet's haze, forming a ring around the fourteen heroes. Samus gasped as she recognized each of them.

Gandrayda resembled one of Master Hand's old Wire Frames in many ways, except her body was a mix of blue and magenta hues, and her pink head had an actual human face with a pointed top. She emanated a kind of radioactive glow.

Noxus was also roughly humanoid, but his helmet and arm cannons resembled giant pill bugs. His legs were spindly and his armor was layered with ripples like some kind of unusually shaped stalagmite.

Trace's appearance was like a needle-armed, scarlet-bodied scorpion standing on two legs. The pointed tips of his arms glowed with bloodthirsty heat.

And Spire was a being of brown rock and yellow diamonds, jagged spikes running along the back of his thick body. One of his arms was much longer than the other and ended in a Jack-o'-Lantern-like ball of yellow diamond.

Samus turned to Gandrayda, the bounty hunter with whom she'd had the best relationship in the past. After what had happened between Mario and Geno, she didn't hold out much hope for reasoning with the hunter's Heartless self. But if Gandrayda, and likely Noxus, were purged, they at least would turn to her side. So she said nothing, but shot a burst of Totem Brew from her arm cannon, which had been modified with the substance after she had expended the last of the Aether fire on the Isle o' Hags.

The pink laser struck Gandrayda's chest…but had no effect. She smiled hauntingly.

"Oh, Sammy…Master Xehanort and the Unknowable are wise; they proofed our armor against your dear Heart Softeners. So the only way you're getting out of here with your life…is by ending ours."

"Yesss," Trace hissed. "But that'sss not going to happen regardless. Goodbye, Sssmash Brothersss!"

At once, the four bounty hunters attacked—Gandrayda with a sphere of crackling white electricity; Noxus with the freezing mist known as the Judicator; Trace with a narrow red laser called the Imperialist; and Spire with a cluster of superheated yellow-orange magma called the Magmaul.

Pikachu's Light Screen on one side and Nayru's Love on the other shielded the group as a whole from the projectile weapons—at least for the moment. But that was enough for them to split up and engage each hunter in close-range combat.

Samus, Zelda, and Sora came after Gandrayda, who backflipped away while using her shapeshifting powers to transform into something Samus would have much preferred never to see again.

It was a monster, towering some thirty feet tall, with an ugly, wrinkled brown body, mechanized limbs, and a head that just about amounted to a spiked brain with a giant eyeball and a gaping jaw. Mother Brain, in her mobile form. Samus swore again before the fight began.

Gandrayda/Mother Brain's eye flashed, and multicolored energy beams began projecting from it down toward the three heroes. Sora Flowmotioned up to her feet and began attacking her metal legs, making sure not to get stomped or swiped away by the mechanical limbs. Zelda used Farore's Wind to teleport herself to the creature's other side and cast bursts of Din's Fire from behind, while avoiding the blue energy rings that were materializing in the air and rolling towards her. And Samus stood her ground, narrowing her eyes. She wouldn't let this stop them from reaching the Unknowable. She raised her arm cannon, charged, and fired.

Jody Summer, Yoshi, Red, and Pikachu charged at Noxus, who curled into a ball and, alarmingly, came straight at them as well. Pikachu and Yoshi took a hit, while Jody and Red managed to dodge the attack.

Jody, helmet in place, clenched her fists, a familiar fire burning around them.

 _"Falcon Kick!"_

Noxus took a direct hit, but as he rolled through the air, he pointed his Judicator and fired while upside-down, freezing the front of Jody's body. Her eyes were wide as she found herself immobile, and Noxus was returning to finish the job.

Red jammed the hook of the Cooper Cane into the crook of Noxus's neck and yanked, eliciting an alien cry of pain. The hunter was now fully diverted from Jody, and though Pikachu remained motionless, Yoshi had arisen and hurried over to help Red with his fight.

Fox, James, Mario, and Luigi ran toward Trace, who hissed with amusement, turned, appeared to flee, and… _became invisible._ Disappeared. (Don't you dare think of the pun. Don't do it.)

"Huh," James said as he and the other three came to a halt, squinting through the rainy air. "Looks like he's vanished without a—"

A narrow red laser seared into his chest, blasting him to the ground.

"Dad; no!" Fox knelt to examine his father's wounds. But James shook his head, sunglasses askew.

"No…I'll be fine. Go!"

Fox noticed that in spite of the injury, James's breathing seemed regular. Fox nodded and stood to train his blaster on empty air. Mario's palm bore a curling fireball and Luigi's Omni-Tool featured its traditional dagger, but they were still at a loss. Where was Trace? And how would they find an enemy they couldn't see?

Then Mario, who didn't want to see any more friends hurt, decided to innovate. He extinguished the fireball in his hand and instead pulled out the OmniWrench, activating its magnetic powers.

A hissing cry came as Trace's metallic armor and weapon pulled him straight toward the wrench, also doing away with his invisibility. Mario swung the OmniWrench to clobber the hunter—only to meet one of Trace's glowing, pointed arms. Luigi prevented the other from piercing Mario's heart by blocking it with the Omni-Tool dagger. And Fox kept his gun poised, waiting for a clear shot.

Ness, DK, and Kirby were left with Spire, who nearly melted DK's face off with a second round of yellow magma after Pikachu's Light Screen had run its course. DK bounded clear over the projectile and brought his fists down, but met only the surface of Crateria, for Spire had jumped out of the way.

Kirby, instead of evading the magma, had simply opened his mouth and swallowed it all, transforming himself into Rock Kirby. He was now made of solid stone, with one small problem: Now he could only trudge forward one slow, plodding step at a time.

Ness noticed Kirby's predicament and decided to innovate as well. He concentrated his PK powers on the puffball and lifted Rock Kirby into the air. With a sudden thrust, he psychically pushed the Star Warrior past DK and straight into Spire's head, knocking him to the ground.

But Spire wasn't done yet. He shoved Kirby off his face, picked him up without much effort, and hurled him into one of the Chozo statues, where Kirby was deeply embedded into the iron ore and would definitely take a little time to extract himself. Spire curled himself into a jagged diamond boulder and bowled into Ness, sending him over to where James McCloud lay, and uncurled to catch both of DK's arms as they began a mighty struggle of brute strength.

The four battles were thus engaged when suddenly Sylux's "Morph Ball" equivalent, the Lockjaw, intervened in one skirmish after the other. The glowing green orb, encased by two intertwining metal bars that retained the general design of Sylux's armor, bounced over Gandrayda's/Mother Brain's towering head and placed a sizzling green sphere in the air. Sylux proceeded to roll between Red's legs, placed another sphere beside Noxus, rolled down Yoshi's spine, and caught air off the tip of the dinosaur's tail. The Lockjaw bounced off of Fox's Reflector, which had been reflecting a shot from the Imperialist, and placed another sphere directly above Trace's head. Finally, it rolled beneath and then burst through DK's and Spire's deadlocked figures, simultaneously breaking them apart, placing its final sphere, and activating the spheres' cumulative effect.

A chain of emerald electricity linked each sphere to the next, piercing Mother Brain's cranium, and Noxus's, Trace's, and Spire's bodies. Each combatant was blasted backwards as a result of the electrocution, and in Gandrayda's case, she reverted to her normal form in the process.

Sylux uncurled from the Lockjaw and fixed each Smasher with his enigmatic, emotionless helmet.

"Get out of here," he said. "I'll deal with the hunters to give you the time you need to escape." He turned lastly to Samus. "I have no great love for you or the Federation, Aran, but the Unknowable must be taken down. And you will not find it here."

Samus was about to protest, surprised by the bounty hunter's sudden act of nobility. But Sylux just said it again:

"Go!"

They gathered their injured—primarily James, Pikachu, and Ness—and hurried back toward the _Normandy_ , running back through the now-pouring rain that somehow no longer seemed to sting (at least compared to the pain and strain most of them felt). They almost tripped many times before reaching the ship.

Legion already had it prepped for them, so as soon as DK had finished carrying James and Ness up the ramp (Pikachu was safe in his Pokéball and Jody's body had thawed), it closed and they lifted off.

As they did so, Samus and the others hurried over to the bridge's left windows to watch the small sparks that were the other hunters converging on Sylux's green one. Whether the hunters would kill Sylux, or Sylux would be forced to kill the others, or they would all kill each other, the Smash Brothers might never know. But they knew one thing.

Less than four days remained before the Smash Universe came to an end.

And they still hadn't found the Unknowable.


	31. Chapter 23: The Unknowable (2)

"THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH."

Most of the Smashers backed away as DK slammed his fists against the floor of the _Normandy_ 's command bridge, leaving sizeable dents. His eyes were livid with anger—an anger born of frustration, and more than a little desperation.

"Hitting things won't get us anywhere, Kong," Jody said. She stood beside Samus, both without helmets as they were accosted by the ape—as well as by Fox McCloud. The rest of the heroes watched helplessly as the dispute unfolded.

"Yeah, well, apparently, neither will your tangential mystery solving!" Fox, too, was on edge; besides everything else, he still hadn't quite healed from Falco's death. "No, all you two have bought us is the loss of precious time and unnecessary danger that nearly killed my father. And now, here we are, three and a half days from Armageddon, and we've got nothing to show for it."

"Oh, please," Samus said. "Like either of you had any better leads on the Unknowable. What was the alternative? Check every planet and pocket of space between both Federations?"

"We could've gone back to Smash Planet first," DK said, seething. "Take down the King of the West; the Ascetic; the Forger; Vaati. Find out why Pit hasn't been answering our summons. Anything but wander through space running your personal dead-end errands. What am I gonna tell my family now? 'Sorry, guys; we were _so_ close. We just slipped up at the end and wasted three days on a wild goose chase. So now the world's gonna end after all we've done. Our bad'?" DK snorted in disgust. "I can't believe I ever agreed to follow you arrogant space women around the universe." He turned to Mario. "And I can't believe _you_ let this happen. I trusted you, Jumpman."

Mario looked affronted. "It's not anyone's a-fault, DK. We've just had bad a-luck, that's all. We can still a-do this. We can still beat a-Xehanort."

Fox shrugged. "That sounds nice, but unfortunately none of you have got a shred of support to back it up. So I guess we just drift through Samus's sector and wait for the End." He balled his fists and glared at Samus and Jody. "Maybe I'll spend my last days making those who've got nothing left to lose feel the pain of those of us who do."

Jody put up a defensive stance. "That's pathetic, McCloud, and you know it."

"Guys…" Yoshi, sadness glistening in his eyes, softly tried to get their attention, but without success.

Samus cocked her arm cannon. "So you and Kong want to blame your problems on us, do you? Well, be my guest. I've been waiting to try some of Megaman's gun upgrades."

 _"Guys!"_

With a flash of green light, all four feuding Smashers were blown off their feet, and at the center of the PK Flash stood Ness. An unusual fire was alight in his eyes, as well as a pacifism comparable to Yoshi's. But he also had news to deliver.

"We've got an incoming transmission from Planet Bomber," he said.

Everyone dropped their petty squabbles at once and came over to the screen where Legion had just accepted the transmission. A moment later, Pacman and Bomberman were beaming out at them from the courtyard of Bomber Base. A bomb-shaped water fountain was beside them.

"Thank goodness you picked up!" Pacman said. "So, uh, we just received a message from Pit."

"Pit?" Mario was stunned. "He hasn't answered our a-calls since leaving Smash a-Planet."

Bomberman nodded and made a series of gestures.

"It looks like something was jamming Skyworld's magic from getting through to us," Pacman translated. "Maybe the Heartless or Magolor or something. So this message could be weeks old. Bomber Base's security footage recorded it, so we're gonna replay it for you. Stand by."

Bomberman came up and adjusted the settings on their video system, and then the screen flickered out and showed a completely different scene.

Through the water of the bomb-shaped fountain, they could see the chamber in Skyworld where the Reflection Pool resided. And there was Pit, looking down at them from the other side of the magical water. He was smiling grimly.

"Smash Brothers. I'm sending this out to as many bodies of water as I can reach," he explained. "I don't know where you guys are in Microsoft right now, but I'm expecting unwelcome company soon, so it might be a while before I can contact you again. Whoever sees this, please…if you can see past the Heartless' grip on our world, relay this message to the Twelve. They're the only ones who can use my information to save us all. Anyways, here it is: a map of all the Vassals. The pool has just shown me the rest, and I want to make sure they see it in case, well…here you go."

They were then presented with a view of the watery map of Smash Planet, upon which the locations of Heart Softeners and Vassals had been plotted. All of Sony and Microsoft were now in the clear, with a glowing spot remaining on the Isle o' Hags and several spots in Nintendo.

Then the map zoomed out to include a broad perspective of the Smash Universe. Sectors and planets were conveniently labeled, three of which contained a bright dot marking members of Organization XIII. One was between Popstar and Smash Planet—clearly Magolor; another was on Venom—undoubtedly Dash Bowman; and the third…was on Earth. Ness's homeworld.

After several more seconds, the screen moved back to Pit. He looked at them with an admirable blend of scared confidence.

"You guys'll pull through, like you always have; I just know it. Something Quill once told me comes to mind: Alone, we are weak; but together, we are strong. The Smash Brothers were formed to face threats as a united body we could never overcome alone. Now take these charts…and kick Xehanort's and his Vassals' sorry butts. I…" He glanced around as something made a sound on the other side of the chamber. Someone else had entered the room. "I gotta go," he said. "Good luck!"

The recording ended, with Pacman and Bomberman proudly watching the Smashers' incredulous reactions.

"Earth," Ness said finally. "That's where the Unknowable's at. Unless he…it…whatever it is…moved again."

Suddenly Samus was hit with guilt, and Captain Falcon's recent words from the Galactic Highway came back to her:

 _Don't forget who your true enemies are._

She looked at Jody, and Fox, and DK, and could see they all felt as sheepish as she did. It had taken so little for them to start losing hope, to start turning on each other. She turned to Pacman and nodded.

"Thank you," she said. "This is exactly what we needed."

"Dad!" Fox was startled as James hobbled onto the command bridge, clutching his bandaged chest. Zelda's magic could only do so much, and the Imperialist laser had packed a mighty punch.

"Couldn't help overhearing your discussion," James grunted. Then he grinned. "Three and a half days, you say? Well, Captain Wormhole's here to tell you I can get us to Earth in three hours."

* * *

The wormhole coughed them out about two hours away from Earth, and the highest stress levels had now shifted from Samus, Jody, DK, and Fox…to Ness. Just Ness.

"But who's the Unknowable, then?" Sora wondered out loud as they approached Ness's long-neglected home planet. "Goroh said it was Deathborn, but Sylux said it was the Dark Hunter. Was one of them lying, or what?"

All Ness could say was, "I have a feeling we're about to find out."

It was almost unreal how normal Earth looked as they approached it. While Fox was caught up wondering what Dash Bowman meant when he said there were more Earths than one, Ness was caught up in blessed nostalgia, just enjoying for the moment the sight of his home, before they faced whatever awaited them below. All his friends in Onett…he would get to see them again.

Ness directed Legion to take them to Onett, for if anyone would know where to find the Unknowable, it was Dr. Andonuts. Accordingly, they descended through the atmosphere, and soon the distant green landscape was rapidly rising to meet them beyond the wispy clouds. It was a sunny day and didn't seem at all different from what Ness remembered.

Then the thousands of squares and lines representing buildings and roads grew larger, until the _Normandy_ homed in on a particularly small one—a pleasant, suburban town which, besides Ness, only DK remembered, having fended off Starmen here once upon a time.

The town seemed untouched—the colorful buildings; the slanted roofs, and four-paned windows, and stone town hall, and three-story drug store. Poplar trees and grass and daisies waved in the gentle breeze, and smiling pedestrians and modest cars milled about the town. Onett seemed like a little slice of paradise in a troubled universe.

"This is…weird," Sora said. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but certainly not something so apparently tame as this.

They landed on the crest of a nearby hill, filed out, and began making their way into town, wary of the suspiciously peaceful environment. How had the Heartless affected Onett? Or had the people here somehow managed to escape them?

"We'll go to Dr. Andonuts's house," Ness explained as he led them down the sidewalk. "We can purge him real fast and get his help finding the Vassal."

"Oi, Ness!"

A man passing by with a suit and a top hat, round glasses, and a yellow beard stopped and waved at him with a cheery smile.

Ness smiled back. "Hi, Photo-Man! How are you?"

"Just dandy!" Photo-Man raised his camera, appearing unsurprised by Ness's unusual company. "Say, mind if I snap a picture of you and your friends?"

Before Ness could protest, the camera flashed, and Photo-Man gave them another jolly wave and was on his way.

"Uh…is this place for real?" DK said. He refrained from mentioning that he didn't like having his picture taken. It reminded him too much of all the time he'd wasted photographing Banana Fairies for one measly Golden Banana.

But Yoshi, observing the people closely, nodded. "I know what the Heartless have done here," he said. "It's similar to what happened to my island, and to Hyrule Castle Town, and to what Link told me about the Great Fourside City."

"What do you mean?" Jody asked.

"Watch them closely," Yoshi said.

They observed as a woman and her child walked out of a candy store hand in hand, the girl blissfully licking a lollipop. Suddenly, a stray cat shot out from an alleyway and across the street. The girl, thoroughly distracted, let go of her mother's hand and chased after the cat down the street. She was almost hit by multiple vehicles—which didn't even slow down—before she reached the other side and disappeared down another alley after the cat. And the mother…just kept on walking, as if nothing had happened.

"That's just messed up," Samus said.

"They're in a kind of blissful apathy," Yoshi said. "Not dangerous to us, but so careless that nothing—not even the impending destruction of the universe—can concern them."

"Well," Zelda said, thinking of the lustful lowlives in Sanctuary and the Imulsion-infected cities of Sera, "we've seen worse."

"Ness?"

They all turned around to face the speaker: a familiar young girl with blond curls and a cute pink dress.

"Paula, it's you!" Ness beamed.

And she wasn't alone. Gathered beside her were Jeff, Poo, and Dr. Andonuts.

"Master Ness, at last you have returned and I can protect you again," Poo said subserviently.

"How very curious you've come back now of all times," Dr. Andonuts said.

Jeff pushed up his glasses, observing the Smashers with a frown. "You really oughtn't to have brought these criminals here, Ness," he said. "Now we are obligated to turn you over to Xehanort."

"Well," Fox said, nodding to James, Jody, and Samus, "how do I put this?"

They all pulled out their guns and purged the Earthlings with several rounds of Totem Brew.

No one in the town spared the spectacle a second glance.

Paula and the others blinked in confusion.

"What happened?" Jeff said.

"Thank goodness you guys are all right!" Ness said, embracing each confused friend in turn. "You've been brainwashed by the Heartless, but now we're here to get rid of them." He turned to Dr. Andonuts. "Professor, we have to find the Unknowable. What do you—"

The explosion cut him off and won the Smashers' attention, if no one else's.

It had come from the hill. The _Normandy_.

"No!" Red said, putting voice to what they were all thinking. "Legion…" Their robot guide was gone, just like that.

"I've found you at last, Smash Brothers."

All heads turned to the town hall down the street, in front of which a single figure stood, staring at them blankly. Unlike the last time Samus and Jody had seen him, there was not a single wound on his body. And he was very much alive.

"Black Shadow," Samus breathed. "Impossible!"

But there was something different about him; Jody noticed Black Shadow's eyes, behind the horned mask, were a cold red, and there was something simply inhuman about the way he carried himself.

"You're dead," Jody said, stating the obvious.

Black Shadow registered no emotion—not even pleasure. "Fools," he said. "I am no more Black Shadow than a hermit crab is its shell. I took on his corporeal form and began murdering F-Zero racers to lure you out in the open, Jody Summer—to know for certain whether you had indeed inherited the Captain's legacy. A truth you well proved on Synobazz. When the time was right, I had this bull-riding cretin kill himself to lead the Smashers down a false trail, which I knew would prove useful in ensuring the success of Master Xehanort's plan. And lo and behold, your time has just about run out."

"You're the Unknowable," Sora said. It wasn't a question.

Black Shadow's form shimmered, then transformed into an even taller figure in black, red, and violet armor. He sported a cape and a disconcerting red helmet with a strip of glass through which his brain was visible. Deathborn.

"All people need is the right face to trust or to fear, and then they will plunge into war without a second thought. For Samurai Goroh, it was the face of the legendary Deathborn."

He transformed again, this time into a close likeness of Samus—but her armor was the very same electric blue she'd seen flashing through her mind. Dark Samus.

"For the bounty hunters' guild, it was that of the Dark Hunter."

Yet another transformation: a green bipedal velociraptor in spiked armor with a two-pronged hook for one of his hands.

"And for the scum of Lylat, it was General Scales."

"You organized the Space Pirate War," James McCloud said. "But why?"

The dinosaur's bright red eyes glinted. "When you are a being made solely of raw, powerful emotion as I am, you can see beyond the short term—to the great beyond. Past the End foreseen by Xehanort, even. Distracting you from your mission…facilitating the Space Pirate War…inciting the Aparoids and the Space Pirates to side with Master Hand during the War of the Hands...All these events were in my best interest for reaping the darkness that is soon to feed upon This World. Stepping stones which lead the unknowing souls of ignorant mortals to my feeding trough. Yes, for you heroes, evil must always have a face…and I am more than happy to provide those faces. For that is how Xehanort and I are to achieve our mutual goal: to plunge This World into the horrors of infinite darkness. Then, before you cease to exist, you will feel the pain of knowing love, and then having it ripped from you forever, replaced by your own individual darknesses which my power brings out more effectively than anyone save Xehanort himself. Would you not agree, Ness?"

Ness's face paled to an almost deathly white, and his brain fizzled with disbelief and his heart pounded with surprise. After all this time, the rumors of the Unknowable's corruptive influence…the answer had been staring right at him all along.

"…Giygas."

Suddenly, a ghostly red-violet shape rose in a vapor above General Scales's imitated form. It was like a projection of pure evil, a sort of warped, jawless skull shape with a long trail of color curling over and around the "face" like the snake spiraling out of the mouth of Voldemort's Dark Mark. Giygas was impossible to look at for longer than a couple seconds without experiencing a maddening disconcertion, for its perpetual amorphous movement assaulted one's eyes like the jaws of Hell itself.

A shiver ran down the spine of every soul that hadn't been dulled by the Heartless.

"So L.O.G.'s Memory Paradoxes brought you a-back," Mario said. "After Ness a-stopped you the first time."

"Yes; and I have been waiting a long time to reveal myself once more. I wished to strike shock and terror in the hearts of all Earthlings, of Ness and all who dare side with him."

"Actually, all kinds of people have been popping up alive 'cause of those paradoxes," DK said. "It's not that big of a shock; the rules for returning from the dead around here seem annoyingly arbitrary, to be honest. In your case, alien guy, those Starmen stirring up trouble everywhere…well, it was only a matter of time, I guess."

"Yes, the Starmen," Giygas said. General Scales snapped his claws. "Speaking of which…"

A host of Starmen teleported around the heroes, on the streets and roofs and even some of the cars of Onett's oblivious citizenry.

"Targets to note," one of the Starmen buzzed, "that the great Giygas has authorized their imminent incineration."

"It's time for you all to descend into your final, eternal nightmare," Giygas said.

As the Starmen began their attack, General Scales's body seemed to split away from itself, leaving behind the body of Dark Samus. Then both villains split again to add Deathborn and Black Shadow to the mix. Four faces of Giygas, but none of which made up the whole.

Most of the Smashers were immediately occupied by the dozens of zigzagging PK Beams spewing from the Starmen. Sora Flowmotioned toward one, only for his Keyblade to meet empty air as the Starman teleported away. Yoshi lobbed eggs to force Starmen to move often and thus fire less frequently. James McCloud did the same with his blaster. Red, Mario, and Luigi chased hopelessly after the aliens, crying out as they were occasionally zapped, but knowing they would be unable to inflict any real damage from a distance. Pikachu, on the other hand, actually managed to Quick-Attack straight into Starmen before they could teleport, taking one down after another. Paula let loose an onslaught of PK Fires, Freezes, and Thunders. Jeff told his father to hide in the nearest grocery store while he quickly set up a small fleet of bottle rockets and let them fly. Poo called upon his trademark PK Starstorm, showering PSI energy onto Starmen in the form of bright meteors, which fortunately didn't total Onett's infrastructure in the process due to the nature of the attack.

Jody Summer headed directly for Black Shadow and shoved him backward into the wall of the town hall. The evil racer, even while pressed against the stone, grabbed Jody by the throat and tossed her onto the ground. He aimed a kick for her stomach, but she rolled out of the way, and, springing from one knee, performed a flame-filled uppercut, flinging Black Shadow skyward.

Black Shadow came down hard with both feet, pounding a small crater into the town hall steps where Jody had just been. He came at Jody and began swinging his fists with scary strength. Jody blocked and dodged, even though her arms nearly broke from the blows. She ducked and slid between Black Shadow's legs, then brought her foot around in a sweeping kick.

But Black Shadow caught her foot in his hand, flipping her effortlessly onto her back. He brought his fist down toward her head, but met only stone.

Jody faced him again, breathing heavily, glancing behind him for a fleeting moment.

"Let's see if Captain Falcon's legacy is too strong for you even in death," she challenged. She brought her fist back, allowing flames to burn around it—and in fact around her entire body—in the shape of a falcon.

Black Shadow responded in like manner, bringing back his fist, only he was engulfed in black flames shaped like a bull.

"Falcon…PUNCH!"

The shockwave split the town hall right down the middle (not that anyone in Onett cared). The flames died to reveal both F-Zero racers still standing, pushed back a good ten feet each. After a moment, however, Jody dropped to her knees, exhaustion overtaking her body.

But before Black Shadow could do anything, another fist—this one huge and hairy—said hello to his back, smacking him clear over the town hall and over the next hill about a mile away.

DK grinned at Jody, offering her a hand. "We need to work on that swing of yours, sister."

Ness cast a psychedelic shower of color called PK Rockin toward Deathborn, unsure which of the four villains contained the real Giygas, if any. The groovy streams struck down several surrounding Starmen, but the diabolical racer absorbed the PSI attack like a ray of sunshine. Deathborn strode forward, ripped a fire hydrant from the ground, and swung it down toward Ness.

Knowing that even his trusty baseball bat wouldn't survive a swing like that, Ness rolled to the side and cast a PK Paralysis, stunning Deathborn in place. He jumped and connected the tip of his shoe with Deathborn's breathing mask using his special PSI kick, which sent the villain head over heels.

Deathborn rose again, more incensed than ever. He chucked the fire hydrant at Ness, and while the boy was dodging it, uprooted an entire streetlight. Deathborn swung it like a baseball bat of his own, knocking Ness to the ground with more than a little pain.

Zelda jumped onto the horizontal streetlight and began running along it. Deathborn narrowed his eyes, then called upon some kind of supernatural power to cause the streetlight to vibrate and its surfaces to circulate like the edge of a chainsaw. The princess nearly lost her footing, but managed to twirl through the air over the remaining gap and, upon reaching the end, shoved the Dragon Sword straight into Deathborn's brain.

After pulling her sword out and running over to Ness, she pushed the streetlight off of him and called upon her healing magic. The boy's body looked like a partially crumpled soda can.

"Hang on, Ness," she said.

Samus and her dark doppelganger claimed their own arena back toward the edge of town. She knew it wasn't really the sentient Dark Samus she'd seen in her dreams—just Giygas's imitation of her—but she still felt like this was a very personal matter. Many of her bounty hunter friends, not to mention allies within the Galactic Federation, had been killed because of Giygas's careful manipulations.

She released a Charge Shot at Dark Samus, who jumped over it and, pointing down at her, fired its signature Shrapnel Beam—a spreadshot of glowing blue chunks of Phazon. Samus sprinted away from the rapid fire, but every small bit that came into contact with her stung and left an ominous black mark on her Power Suit—not to destroy it, but to transform it. If she lost to Dark Samus, would she succumb again to the Heartless and become this infernal daughter of Phaaze herself?

Samus fired a few missiles as she ran, then curled into her Morph Ball and rolled under a parked car for protection. Dark Samus responded with a methodical Super Missile to blast the car away and trained its arm cannon on the exposed area underneath, but paused. The Morph Ball was no longer there.

Samus had gone up with the blasted car, then arched discreetly over Dark Samus and Meteor Smashed it into the concrete with her arm cannon. She landed on top of it and ejected the circular Metal Blade that Mega Man had been so gracious as to install into her arm cannon. She fired the razor directly into Dark Samus's neck and severed the Dark Hunter's head with a definitive stomp.

Fox, too, knew that the real General Scales wasn't standing before him. But to tell the truth, Giygas was right about one thing: Fox liked to give evil a face. And General Scales deserved that designation almost as much as Andross himself. But considering the dinosaur was brandishing a serrated blade and a two-pronged metal claw, he would need more than his blaster for this fight. So it was time he brought out the secret weapon that Zelda had helped him make whole, even though he had been hoping to save it for Xehanort.

He used Krystal's newly repaired magic staff like a vaulting pole and then brought it down upon Scales, the resulting Ground Quake flinging Sauria's greatest enemy all the way into the drug store sign and onto one of the overhanging striped awnings. Fox ran after Scales and fired a series of flame bursts to follow up.

Scales swung himself off the awning and sped back to him, clashing his blade with Krystal's staff. They dueled with breathtaking speed, and Fox screamed as the two-pronged claw raked across his right arm, digging deep and leaving a steadily bleeding wound.

Fox narrowed his eyes. He used the staff's magic to create a blue force field, then rammed into Scales with the magic barrier, again pushing him into the drug store—this time breaking through the bottom floor window.

Scales somehow managed to pry himself away from Fox and quickly leapt up the drug store stairs, coming out through the top floor's windows. He tore through both awnings with the intent of plunging his sword into Fox's head as the pilot's force field disappeared.

The reptilian general certainly didn't expect to fall straight into Kirby's interloping mouth instead. As Kirby landed, Fox watched in anticipation as the puffball seemed to swash Scales around his mouth…then swallowed. Scales didn't come back. That was it.

Fox shrugged; he supposed since it wasn't the real General Scales, such an anticlimactic end wasn't wholly unjustified.

Kirby burped. "Crunchy," he said with satisfaction.

Ness's head pounded, his whole body burning with pain even as Zelda tried to heal his broken bones as best she could. He sat up, his senses clouded, the princess's reassuring voice echoing meaninglessly in his ears, blending with the cacophonous noise of the battle that had disrupted peaceful Onett.

And then everything seemed to be moving in slow motion—except for him. PK Beams flying slowly through the air; Jeff's bottle rockets exploding like beautiful fireworks, every sparkling particle vivid and easy to follow; Poo's glowing meteors gradually breaking apart on the Starmen.

Something felt wrong.

He looked up and saw the seizure-inducing shape of Giygas's ghastly form. The Vassal's reddish darkness spread across the sky, bathing Earth in a bloody shroud.

 _"Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness…"_

Ness found himself floating off the ground, Zelda slowly lifting her head in surprise as his eyes widened in fear, drawn closer and closer to Giygas's skull-like image, as if it had an appetite not for substance, but for souls. An appetite for the darkness that would fill every heart as the Heartless chased out whatever light remained in the Smash Universe.

 _"It hurts, Ness…"_

Ness tried to remember the fears he had already learned to overcome: facing Aparidley and Nightmare; stopping Professor U. Reeka; living with the fact that he and Mario and everyone else in This World might be no more than characters programmed to follow a predetermined sequence of events. He had come so far in conquering his fears, had even defeated Giygas before with the help of his friends and loved ones. So why was he still afraid now?

Giygas's ghostly form now loomed in front, above, and all around him. _"Friends…It hurts…"_

 _Of course_ , Ness thought. Giygas was no more than an incoherent force of pure evil; whatever individuality he had once possessed had been consumed when he'd become this…thing. His apparent coherence had only been because of the minds of those other villains he'd impersonated, but really, all Giygas really wanted…was for someone else to feel his pain. And then, for some reason Ness couldn't explain, he suddenly understood more.

He could see Giygas's past: An alien who had been raised from infancy by two of Ness's ancestors. Who had been commissioned by his race to invade Earth and had been torn between his care for the humans who raised him and his duties, but ultimately fulfilled the latter. Who had become so unstable from guilt that the combination of love and loss consumed his entire being, including his mind, leaving him as only this undefinable manifestation of tremendous evil. Pain. Regret.

"You…you can't let the past destroy your future!" he tried. "Don't make the rest of This World suffer for your mistakes! If there's any small part of you that remembers feeling love, make this stop!"

But before he'd finished speaking, Ness already knew that there was no rational conscience left to hear his plea. Giygas was beyond reason, beyond thought. Only passion. Only hate.

As Giygas's shimmering form loomed ever larger all around, Ness tried to draw upon the powers of PSI to perform his mightiest PK Flash. But his mind was so hammered by Giygas's intangible power that he couldn't so much as count to ten. He was powerless. It took all his willpower to think: How had he beaten Giygas the time before?  
Then he remembered: When he, Paula, Jeff, and Poo had been on the brink of destruction, Paula had used her special power, Prayer, and had called upon the people of Earth to Pray for their success. Only then had Giygas weakened and fallen apart.

Ness sent out a silent prayer of his own, but he knew there was no one to hear it; whatever gods might have answered his heart's desire were numbed by the Heartless.

"Paula!" He managed to yell. "Pray for us!"

"Hi, Ness!"

His eyes widened. In front of him, floating as well as he, was Paula, smiling sweetly. But her eyes were glistening with that same cold scarlet. Ness had a sinking feeling on par with the Titanic.

"You think I don't remember what happened before?" Giygas said through his new young puppet. "If it makes you feel any better, no one would have heard the girl's Prayers anyway. They're under the Heartless, remember? They, unlike you, have accepted that This World is not worth saving. And as I've taken possession of Porky and others in the past…so I control your friend now. This is where you show who you really are, Ness. You really want to waste your time saving all these unworthy life forms? Fine then; go ahead. Destroy me."

Paula opened her arms out as if ready to receive an arrow to the chest.

Ness blinked, clutching his baseball bat. His whole body was shaking, his thoughts in a blender.

"You…you get out of Paula's body first!"

Paula giggled. "That's not how it works, Ness! I'm an immaterial being, remember? How else do you expect to destroy me? You have to kill the physical form I've taken. There's no other way. Sorry."

Ness noticed now that he and Paula were being watched by all the other heroes, the Starmen having all been defeated. They each felt powerless to make such an impossible choice for their friend. But one among them knew he had to do something.

Sora flew up to Ness with Zelda's magic supporting his flight. He had faced this kind of choice before, and he knew these situations never turned out the way one expected.

"Unfortunately he's right, Ness," Sora said. "My Keyblade can't pierce a Vassal unless their keyhole's revealed itself. And since we can't harm Giygas's cloud thing, we have to strike down his avatar." Then Sora held out his Keyblade. "But I can't make that decision for you. It's your choice to make. Trust your heart."

Ness, in his state of terror, saw pain like his own reflected in Sora's eyes: having to leave friends behind, or even strike them down, for the greater good. Sometimes it had turned out for the better, and they had found each other again, but one could never know for sure.

He would have to kill Paula.

Slowly, Ness put his hand on Sora's, and together they guided the Keyblade toward Paula, whose bright eyes glinted with triumph.

"Yes, Ness…prove This World's ripeness for destruction! Strike me down, and embrace the monster inside you! What's one life in exchange for the universe's salvation?"

Hot tears were streaming down Ness's face as he and Sora reached Paula. Ness looked into the pretty features of his childhood friend. For the last time.

"I…I'm so sorry, Paula!" he sobbed.

But as Sora began to relinquish the Keyblade into his hand where it would remain only for a moment, Ness hesitated. A flood of images streamed through his mind, overriding his current predicament.

Mewtwo, mentoring him as they prepared to face Master Hand:

 _"Others will look past your youth and see a great leader, one to look up to. You will be spending more time protecting others than yourself…"_

Princess Peach, reassuring him on board _The King's Krystal_ :

 _"There are many battles that can't be won just with brute strength…We each have skills that make us unique, that help us to contribute to the Smash Brothers in a way no one else can…"_

Mario, discussing their roles as heroes and how they dealt with fear during the celebration in the Waffle Kingdom:

 _"That's what it a-means to be a hero, Ness: to worry more for others than for your-a-self…"_

And then, a vaguely familiar woman with red hair and black button eyes just like his:  
 _"I'll always love you, Ness; you know that, right?"_

Was that…his mother? Had L.O.G. wiped that memory from him too?

All these voices would normally have confused him, but at this moment they seemed to synthesize into precisely what he needed to know: People were counting on him to save the world, but he could only do that by staying true to himself.

Then Ness noticed one more thing: Paula. There was no keyhole flashing on her chest.

Ness lowered the Kingdom Key and narrowed his eyes resolutely, looking past Paula's face into the mindless monster beyond.

"I won't do it!"

For whatever reason, Giygas seemed annoyed that his nemesis hadn't stabbed him in the heart. "Is that so?" Paula raised her hands and began generating a mighty PK Fire. "I guess torching your precious spaceship wasn't enough. Then maybe I'll start knocking off your friends one by one. We'll see how many more people have to sacrifice themselves before you come to your senses."

"No!" Ness and Sora both shouted as Paula cast the huge PK Fire toward her first victim: Red.

A spherical white shield intercepted the attack, absorbing it like a sponge. The figure within joined the others in the air, fixing Ness with a Heartless, wooden…and surprisingly softened look.

"I hear your wish, child," Geno said, his normally onyx eyes shining with a light that hadn't been there before. He looked down at Mario. "You were right; I do have my own heart. And once I realized this, it grew strong enough to overpower Xehanort's hold over me. And now, I know my purpose."

Geno then faced Giygas's rather outraged avatar. "You are not the only one with the power to possess. I am a star, commissioned by the Star Spirits to grant the wishes of the pure in heart. As such, I now declare my right to decide my own puppet master, and I choose…to serve the light!"

He reached out and placed a stiff finger on Paula's forehead.

A shrill, inaudible scream rattled Ness's and Sora's and really everyone's brains. Giygas's shapeless scarlet vapor was sucked out of Paula's body and soaked into Geno's. Paula's body dropped into Ness's arms, unconscious, while the puppet twitched like a dysfunctional demon vessel, his eyes flashing between black and white and red. There were multiple entities inside, battling for control.

With an alarming, unnatural jerk, Geno flung himself toward Sora and skewered himself on the Keyblade, Giygas's keyhole flashing on his fibrous chest. A chorus of whispers echoed, but whether they came from Giygas, or Geno, or even Sora or Ness's thoughts, it was impossible to tell.

 _"Failed this kingdom, failed this kingdom, failed this kingdom, failed this kingdom, failed this kingdom, failed this kingdom, failed this kingdom, failed this kingdom, failed this kingdom…"_

Sora and Ness watched in shock as Geno's body transformed into pure white hearts, which drifted into the sky like the stars Geno had served. The two heroes floated back to the ground among the other Smashers. The sky's redness quickly reverted to a bright blue. The people of Onett began to wake up from their Heartless sleep.

The Smashers hardly had a chance to catch their breath before Luigi cried out. A man's life-sized hologram had sprouted from his Omni-Tool.

Xehanort.

"Well done, Smash Brothers," he said with a thin smile. "I have a proposition for you."

* * *

 **END OF BOOK 4**


	32. Chapter 24: Heart, Might, and Mind

Book 5

The Great Convergence

* * *

" _Master Hand never did invite anyone to his tournaments_

 _who didn't deserve it."_

 _ **~Mewtwo**_

* * *

Chapter 24: Heart, Might, and Mind

* * *

 **Onett**

 **Earth**

* * *

 ** _H_** ow did you get on a-this?" Luigi asked, as if he were a celebrity whose cell phone number had been pandered to a crazed fanbase. The other Smashers had gathered around Xehanort's projected image, which was coming directly out of the Omni-Tool on Luigi's wrist.

Xehanort looked neither amused nor annoyed. "Suffice it to say that the King of the West has a way with technology. You should not be surprised to learn that there is nowhere you can go where I cannot find you."

"Yeah, well then you know it's time for us to hunt _you!_ " Sora said. It was impossible for him to keep his personal feelings out of this exchange. "All your other Vassals are gone, Xehanort; your game's up!"

Xehanort regarded Sora with a raised eyebrow. "Is that so? For all your confidence, boy…for all your Smash Brother friends have accomplished…how, pray tell, do you plan on eradicating the four remaining members of Organization XIII _and_ myself within three days? Nintendo is a vast world…and not even your portals will be enough for you to accomplish such a feat. I'm afraid _your_ game is up, heroes."

There was a moment of shattered denial as each Smasher contemplated the unavoidable truth of Xehanort's statement: Even though they had defeated nine of the thirteen Vassals, according to Dash Bowman's prediction there were three days left before the Smash Universe was erased from existence. And there was no way they would be able to find and defeat all of their remaining enemies—one by one, because Sora had to be there—within that time.

"What are you proposing?" Zelda said finally.

Xehanort smiled slightly, almost like a grandpa watching his grandchildren open their Christmas presents. "Why, my dear princess, I am offering you a chance—even now—to complete your mission. You see, as much as I have enjoyed following your valiant exploits, I grow weary of waiting for our reunion. As such, this is what I propose: All of you are to come back to Nintendo, to Castle Oblivion, where I will have gathered all of my surviving Vassals. And there, we shall battle to the bitter end. What say you?"

No one had expected Xehanort to make them such an offer. There were a thousand valid reasons for them to be suspicious.

"What's the catch?" Samus said. "Why wouldn't you just wait out the three days and let us fail?"

"There is no catch," Xehanort said simply. "No tricks. Come together, and it will be all of me…against all of you. You have my word that there will be no ambushes, no magical traps to bar you from the castle."

"And what makes you think we'd ever trust a word you say?" DK demanded.

Xehanort's eyes just continued to burn. "Nothing. Of course you cannot trust me; I am merely explaining the conditions of your final endeavor. Whether or not you hearken to my words is of no concern to me." He shifted his eyes over to Sora. "And as for why I would rather not 'wait it out,' as the bounty hunter put it…it is because some few individuals of the Smash Universe are escaping Judgment as I would have them face it. None will avoid the Great Convergence, of course…but I see this as a final opportunity to prove to those whom I once considered my colleagues that This World is entirely deserving of its fate. The light in your hearts is insufficient to snuff out the darkness, but it is a thorn in my side—a caveat in my accomplishment that I am determined to rectify before the End."

Xehanort just stood and watched as the Smashers contemplated—silently at first, then conversing with each other.

"We'll a-do it," Mario said at last with the more or less unanimous approval of his fellows. "We'll come a-back to Hyrule, and there we'll a-finish this."

"Hyrule?" Xehanort looked bemused. "Oh, no; you misunderstand. Castle Oblivion is no longer above the Hero of Legend's fallen kingdom. I have relocated it to a more…suitable venue for our ultimate conflict. Above a volcanic keep which you, Mario, have journeyed through on many occasions, but with my advent it was placed under the stewardship of my faithful servant, the Forger."

"Smithy," Mario said as he realized where Castle Oblivion now resided. "Bowser's a-Castle."

Xehanort nodded gravely. "Until we meet." And then he was gone.

* * *

While Samus contacted Pacman and Bomberman to bring the _Lor Starcutter_ to Onett, the other Smash Brothers took a few hours to rest from their intense encounter with Giygas and the Starmen. Some took up Dr. Andonuts's offer to nap in his house, while others made a celebratory trip to the local malt shop—made bittersweet, of course, by Geno's recent sacrifice.

Over on one of the surrounding hills, Red and Pikachu watched anxiously as Zelda and Fox (with Krystal's staff) tried every magical trick they knew to revive Jigglypuff from her petrified state. But even after hours of effort, they had still not made any progress.

"Pikaaa…" Pikachu lamented.

Red was even more shaken by his dear friend's inanimate status than by his recent close call with a deadly PK Fire. "I wish Kameo were here," he said. "Her sister Kalus was turned to stone once too, and I'll bet the Mystic's magic could be lifted with her help."

Zelda shook her head ruefully. "Unfortunately, we don't have time to visit the Enchanted Kingdom before facing Xehanort. We will just have to hope things will work out without Jigglypuff."

"Crazier last-minute solutions have appeared before," Fox added with optimism.

Red nodded, thinking of the Pokémon Spirit Bonds his misguided father had nonetheless introduced him to. "We'll find a way."

"Fox." Fox turned to see his father walking up the hill to him. "A word?"

"Sure, Dad," he said, and they slowly began walking back toward the town, taking time to appreciate the beautiful late afternoon view. It was mostly grassy hills and forested slopes, but the low-hanging sun glowed through the billowing clouds like a Messianic advent.

"Before we return to Smash Planet," James began, "there's something you should know. Just in case…well, just in case."

"Just in case what?"

James appeared to be searching for the proper words. "I'm…just so proud of you, son. Of everything you've done. Of who you've become. We haven't had a chance to talk much since Venom…but I hope you'll forgive me for firing the first shot at Dash. It was a moment of necessity, but I see now it was also one of weakness. You're a far better leader than I could ever hope to be. And remember this: You didn't fail Dash; Dash Bowman failed himself."

Fox was unsure what to say. "Thanks. I understand; you did what you felt was right." He paused, then decided he was ready to share something he'd kept close to his heart. "You know…for a moment, down in that lab, I looked into his eyes and I could've sworn I saw the old Dash in there. He was there, Dad, and he was going to give me that trigger and help us. I don't know what pushed him over the edge…but I have to believe it was the Heartless' doing."

James just listened silently, waiting for Fox to finish.

"I guess what I'm saying is…it's not fair," Fox said. "What Xehanort's done to This World…corrupting good people…turning us against each other…do you really think Dash deserved that?"

James McCloud's sunglasses flashed in the light of the saturated sun. "We all have monsters inside us, Fox. Xehanort has proved particularly skilled at teasing those monsters out, and convincing people that's all they are. I sense there is a piece of the hero's heart Xehanort has long exploited, so that no universe or hero has succeeded in stopping his corruptive process. But you and your friends will soon have that chance, and I believe Sora has all the keys he needs to solve the puzzle once and for all. The Hand of Fate won't leave you without a fighting chance."

Fox nodded, letting his father's words sink in. Finally: "I'm glad you're back, Dad."

James smiled. "So am I."

* * *

At the joined tables where some of the Smashers as well as Ness's friends were gathered, DK briefly considered challenging Kirby to an eating contest, then thought better of it.

"Here's to us!" he said instead, holding up an extra-large banana-flavored milkshake. "To the Smash Brothers!"

"To the Smash Brothers!" the others hollered, tipping mugs and taking rejuvenating sips of softened ice cream. A server immediately brought Kirby another, for he had consumed the entire mug.

"You gonna be okay, bro?" Luigi asked, noticing Mario's distant expression.

Mario shook himself out of his daydreams, which had been filled with the battles and triumphs he'd shared with Geno. "I'm a-fine," he said unconvincingly.

Sora leaned an arm on Mario's shoulder. These were his friends, his new family, and he keenly felt Geno's loss as well. "Hey; in my world, the death of one form of a person didn't always mean they were completely gone. Their Heartless…their Nobody…or their whole form…strong hearts've got a way of weathering the worst of storms. Maybe Geno's star spirit will come back in a new form too…"

"Maybe," Mario said. But something told him the Geno he knew…his consciousness was long gone, whether his star spirit was recycled or not.

At the other end of the table, four children and an old man dug into their malts—Ness with some difficulty. Although Zelda had healed his broken bones, his body was still quite sore. He could only hope he'd feel well enough to face Xehanort when the time came. Which was very, very soon.

"Master Ness," Poo said, "I must come with you to fight your final battle. It is my sworn duty to protect you."

"Thanks, Poo," Ness said, but shook his head. "But I don't think the Heartless will let you or any other Earthlings onto Nintendo's mainland just yet. You've gotta stay here, all of you, and help piece things back together. People are confused, and they'll need your help."

"It makes logical sense," Jeff said reluctantly, pushing up his glasses and regarding the globs of ice cream he'd spilt on his green suit jacket with dismay. "But I believe in you, Ness; you and the Smash Brothers will win this thing without a doubt."

Dr. Andonuts slapped his son on the back approvingly. "Couldn't have said it better myself, my boy. Just, uh…" He had the look of a scientist trying to decide how to phrase a complex concept in simple terms. "Be careful with this Great Convergence thing, won't you, Ness? All the astronomers I know…they're going berserk at the strange readings we've been getting lately. Orbits askew; gravitational fields distorted; light waves behaving unusually; something big's coming. So the faster you can get Xehanort done and over with, the better."

Ness nodded. "We'll do our best."

To his surprise, Paula, who was sitting beside him, gently touched his shoulder.

"Thanks for…you know…not killing me," she said.

Ness smiled demurely. "Don't worry about it. I was going to, but when I saw you didn't have the keyhole flashing on you, I realized stabbing you with the Keyblade wouldn't have actually destroyed Giygas. Otherwise I would've gone ahead and—"

Paula's slap stung his face, and he watched, shocked, as Paula stormed out of the malt shop in a huff.

"What did I say?" he asked no one in particular.

DK snorted. "The wrong thing, kid. The wrong thing."

* * *

Fortunately, by the time the _Lor Starcutter_ arrived with Pacman and Bomberman a few hours later, Paula had frankly forgiven Ness his poor wording and gave him a big hug as he and the Smash Brothers prepared to board the sparkling ship on the nearest grassy hilltop.

"We're with you 'till the end, Ness," she said, placing her hand on his heart. "In here."

"Time to go!" Samus called from the boarding ramp. She would be piloting the _Starcutter_ , with Jody and Fox as copilots. "Everyone on!"

The people of Onett, now infused with a healthy level of concern without the Heartless dulling their souls, waved as the Smash Brothers filed into the ship. If all went well, this would be the last space voyage on the heroes' long journey. And if it didn't, well…it would still probably be their last.

"Sora…wait…"

Sora paused as James McCloud approached him. But the pilot did not look well; his body was twitching as if it were being sent periodic electric shocks.

"Are you okay?"

James's image was now flickering like a faulty hologram. His voice came as barely comprehensible static.

"In the…end…beware…the Fourth Voice…"

"What?"

Then, like a burnt-out lightbulb, James was gone. As if he had never been there.

"Dad!" Fox ran over to where his father had disappeared, staring at the empty spot in disbelief.

"The Great Convergence approaches," Dr. Andonuts said. "I fear your father's unstable interdimensional nature has succumbed to the other galactic disturbances. I'm sorry, my boy…but you must go. All of you. Before it is too late!"

"No…"

Fox seemed unable to process the professor's words as Sora guided him up the ramp and into the ship. Without further ado, the _Lor Starcutter_ took to the sky and left Earth behind.

* * *

Before the Smash Brothers jumped to hyperspeed, Pacman and Bomberman loaded back onto Bomberman's Rocket, which they had kept on board in anticipation of their inability to accompany their friends to the Mushroom Kingdom.

"See ya on the other side!" Pacman and Bomberman saluted Mario and the rest from the rocket's cockpit before lifting off from the _Starcutter_ 's main deck and heading back to Planet Bomber.

Though Fox was sorely troubled by his father's untimely disappearance, he was just one among most of the Smashers who were deeply distraught for one reason or another. Lost friends and family…betrayals…unexplained mysteries…all this on top of the fact that they were now headed to face their final foe. Everything they had been working toward had led up to this, and within the next couple days, it would all come to an end—one way or another.

As the _Starcutter_ left Earth's orbit, Kirby wandered along the halls and around the Skydeck of the ship, thinking sadly of Magolor. At least one good thing had come of their encounter: A means of returning swiftly to the Nintendo World.

One hyperspeed jump later (they had decided to do so regardless of the Dream Water still on board, securing the crates as best they could), Smash Planet was before them once more. It was almost unreal—it seemed as if they had been wandering the universe's furthest reaches for ages, and before that, traversing Sony and Microsoft and RareWare. For some, it had been several years since they had set foot in Nintendo. And yet here it was—Smash Planet, arrayed below like a cloudy blueberry, the mainlands just visible through the atmosphere. They were really coming home.

Samus guided the _Starcutter_ through the atmosphere with caution. Although outer space was presumably safe from the threat of any Heartless like the other purged kingdoms, there was no such guarantee for the skies of Smash Planet. Twelve hearts raced as Nintendo appeared below, its expansive land mass too vast to survey as a whole even from several thousand feet in the air. As the clouds dissipated around them, mingling with the Halcandran vessel's cerulean sparkles, they could just make out some of the central regions of Nintendo—Kanto; Akaneia; the Twilight Forest. All arrayed below them like a miniature model of the planet, though shrouded in the darkness of night.

"We're a-sure we shouldn't a-go directly to Bowser's a-Castle, then?" Luigi asked.

Mario nodded. "We have no choice but to meet a-Xehanort down there; but if it _is_ a trap, we can at least a-go there on our own terms—through a portal instead of a-coming from the air, exposed."

Red shivered at the mere sight of the spiky ridges of the Icicle Mountains toward which they were descending. "It makes sense, I guess. Gadd's portal on Mountain #32 can take us right to the castle unnoticed. I just wish there was another portal remote enough to be safe but in a non-sub-zero climate."

But there seemed to be no adequate alternative, so toward Mountain #32, the tallest of the icy mountains, they went. A mighty, haunting wind was blowing in the night, but the _Starcutter_ disregarded these conditions, bearing down steadily toward the peak. Samus circled around until she found a suitably flat ledge on which to land—though even that surface was quite narrow, and the other Smashers were grateful to be in the company of such skilled pilots.

Still, it was with more than a little unease that they disembarked. A few of them gratefully donned quirky silver jackets that had been provided by the _Starcutter_ 's inventory. Red, who had actual been here with the Elite Four to dismantle Professor U. Reeka's bunker-laboratory, led them around toward the summit, carefully stepping through the snow and avoiding slick blue ice that could send a person tumbling down thousands of feet with one misstep. They paused to gaze curiously at the Topi Bear frozen in a solid block of ice at the peak, then proceeded around the edge that would take them to the bunker's entrance, near which Gadd's portal was located.

Red brought them to a halt and drew the Cooper Cane. They weren't alone. In fact, two parka-wearing dwarves were standing beside the open metal dome which led down into Reeka's base.

"Wait!" Popo said, he and his sister raising their arms and hammers above their heads.

"It's not what you think!" Nana said.

Jody drew her Totem Brew blaster and fired two quick shots into each Ice Climber, though nothing about the short Smashers' nonthreatening demeanor seemed to change.

"What are you a-doing here?" Mario asked.

Both Ice Climbers beamed. "We've been waiting for you, of course!" Popo said. "That metal version of yourself…it gave us some weird yellow pellets…"

"Power Pellets, I think they were called," Nana said.

"And before we knew it, our hearts were purged and we could see This World as it really is. Metal Mario then told us to come here and wait for you."

"Why is there blood on your faces?" DK said.

The twin mountaineers looked sheepish. "Um…let's just say the Heartless made us… _less particular_ about our diets," Nana said. "Instead of just the eggplants we normally stick to, Topis and Polar Bears and Nitpickers are actually surprisingly tasty."

"Not to mention the Poké—um…the other things that sometimes wandered into the Icicle Mountains," Popo said.

Pikachu looked horrified. "Pika…chu?"

Red, who sincerely hoped no humans had wandered into the mountains, tried to look past the Ice Climbers' rather grisly, potentially cannibalistic corruptions. "Then you're here to help us through the portal."

Both Ice Climbers nodded. "Not just that," Popo said. "We know you guys are on a very tight schedule…but you need to rest for a bit before heading over to the Mushroom Kingdom. So we've decked out the base for your short stay."

"Plus, there's someone down there waiting to see you," Nana said.

"Come on!" they said simultaneously, and without further explanation, hopped over to the open hatch and slid down the metal ladder into the base.

"Um…are we sure about this?" Sora asked—though in the frigid air, he was admittedly anxious to get out of the cold.

"They're definitely their old a-selves; I think we can trust them," Mario said, and followed the Ice Climbers down the hatch, the rest close behind.

After passing through the thick vault door, the Smashers' eyes widened as they beheld the refurbished interior of Reeka's previously vacant base. There were couches and chairs and tables and beds, all of which seemed to be constructed from a solid ice base, but padded with Topi or Polar Bear fur, including the carpeted floor. The temperature, though not exactly warm, was much better than outside, the flickering glow of bright lanterns providing welcome sources of light and heat.

"How many animals have you been eating?" Ness couldn't help asking.

Popo elected to ignore Ness's question, instead calling into an adjacent room. "Hey—they're here!"

Into the main chamber staggered Mr. Game & Watch—his original black, two-dimensional self, rather than his metal, 2.5-dimensional doppelganger. His expression shifted frames into one of sheer delight.

"Smash Bro-thers!" he said, beeping his way over to each member of the Twelve and jerkily shaking their hands in turn. "At last, you have re-turned!"

"G.W.!" Luigi said. "How did you get a-here?"

"Link said you were running the shuttle in Fourside," Yoshi said.

"I was in-deed. But then my met-al self came…and ad-min-is-tered a Pow-er Pel-let to me. I was changed back to nor-mal. It then in-struc-ted me to come here, and to give you these."

Game & Watch proceeded to hand each Smasher a black two-dimensional bucket.

"What are these for?" Samus asked.

"Dream Water!" Kirby had placed his bucket on top of his head like a silly hat, his childish behavior not at all indicative of his wise words.

"Kirby's right," Zelda said. "The _Starcutter_ 's Dream Water could all fit into these containers. I've seen Mr. Game & Watch fill them with absurd quantities during the Smash Tournaments."

G.W. waved his black flag in the air for no discernible reason. "I am glad to be of as-sis-tance."

Even with all of these accommodations, Sora was troubled. He turned to the Ice Climbers. "Thanks, you guys…but I don't think we have time to stay the night here. Every minute we waste brings us closer to the End. We've got to get going."

"I thought you'd say that," Popo said. "And normally I would agree. But here's the problem: Ever since what happened in Hyrule, Xehanort's tightened his control over things here in Nintendo."

"Part of that," Nana continued, "was limiting portal travel to daytime hours. The one up here—it won't function until dawn."

Sora knew there was no counterargument to that. He was just frustrated that Xehanort's careful manipulations were already controlling what he could do. But he had to be honest with himself—part of him was glad for the chance to sleep. He and the others all needed it, and it would prepare them to face the final Vassals on the morrow. Maybe, in some twisted sense, this was Xehanort's way of "playing fair."

After an hour or two of catching Popo, Nana, and G.W. up on the goings-on of the Smash Universe, they all made their way to the assorted beds, which were scattered throughout the base's various rooms and lined with thick Polar Bear blankets. The Ice Climbers turned down the lights and bid them all good night.

* * *

 _"Sora…"_

"Wha?"

Sora sat up in his bed, his eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness. The whisper seemed to have come from the next room. Groggily, he stood up and wandered in the direction of the sound.

 _"Sora…"_

This time, it was coming from the direction of the entrance. Too tired to consider the wisdom of following strange voices in the middle of the night, Sora crept over to the entrance, pulled open the heavy vault door just wide enough for him to slip through, and climbed up the ladder and out into the frozen night.

 _"Sora…"_

He trudged slowly toward the edge, squinting against the swirling flurries of ice crystals.

"Who's there?"

"It's me."

Sora was so startled he nearly jumped and fell over the precipice as he spun around to behold the speaker.

Kairi.

She smiled at him sadly, clutching her arm behind her back like she always used to do as a child.

Sora, recalling the disturbing dream of the Destiny Islands he'd had some time back, recoiled from this apparition.

"It's not you. You're gone…they're all gone."

Kairi's crystalline eyes sparkled with longing. "Oh, Sora…I've missed you so much. I wish...I wish I could tell you more. Tell you everything."

"Tell me what?"

Kairi giggled. "You'll find out soon enough. But that's not how it works. Each of us…we're only given just enough light to take the next step. Then we have to exercise our faith, and we grow from it."

Sora blinked back his tears. Seeing her was almost more than he could handle right now. "You're a ghost. A vision. I've seen it before."

"Think again, Sora."

A silver-haired figure emerged from the snowy swirls, joining Kairi.

"Riku?"

"That dream you had—that came from the Heartless. Xehanort wanted to discourage you, to make you think you're the one to blame for what happened to Disney. But it was a lie."

"If you don't believe us," Kairi said, "then take this." She held out a star-shaped object composed of five pale pink Thalassa Shells, all woven together with a crown-shaped token in the center and a smiley face drawn on the top shell in chalk.

"Your Lucky Charm," Sora breathed, taking the object. It was an actual, physically tangible item. He could feel the sandy grooves in each shell, almost smell and hear the applauding waves of the sea. Finally, his tear wells overflowed.

"Sora," Riku said. "You can't blame yourself for what Xehanort did. We all fought for Disney…and we failed, but we failed together. We were so close, too…but we were missing the last piece needed to stop Xehanort's world-destroying powers."

"What is it?" Sora asked eagerly. "Tell me!"

Kairi shook her head. "We don't know." Seeing his disappointment, she took his hand. "But this time, I just know you'll figure it out. You have a heart unlike any other, Sora."

Sora wanted to believe her with all his being, but he didn't know if he could. "Why? What makes my heart special? Why do I have to be the one to do this?"

"That's something you're gonna have to find out for yourself," Riku said.

Sora nodded, figuring as much. Then: "What's it like…being dead? The Disney Universe was erased from memory and existence, so I thought there would be nothing left of any of you."

"Nothing's ever truly gone, Sora," Kairi said. "You had your memories taken in Castle Oblivion and then restored by Naminé, so you know that as well as anyone. It's true that Disney's never coming back…and our memory will fade from the minds of the living…but to die and be forgotten doesn't mean there will be nothing left of you."

"I see." Sora paused; something in the way Kairi was speaking bothered him. "You say that as if I'm going to be killed and forgotten too."

Both Kairi and Riku were silent for a long moment.  
"Just be true to your heart, Sora," Riku said finally. "Do that, and you'll succeed."

Kairi clenched Sora's hand again and smiled as she affectionately let go, stepping back with Riku into the snowdrifts, her last words echoing as they disappeared.

"The answer's inside you, Sora…"

Sora was wrapped in a thick silver jacket from the _Starcutter_ , so he wasn't very cold, but a shiver still ran up his spine. He stood there for a while, staring at the Lucky Charm that was still in his hands.

* * *

At first light, the Smash Brothers were up. Game & Watch treated them to healthy helpings of his black sausages, while the Ice Climbers whipped up some hot cocoa and cooked some eggplants and Polar Bear meat they'd stored in another room that had been converted into a meat locker. They all ate, whether they had much of an appetite or not. And they all drank a dose of Dream Water with their hot cocoa so that they would be safe from the Heartless during the coming ordeal.

"I wish we could come and fight with you," Nana said, holding her brother's hand as they and G.W. prepared to see them off. The portal was rippling with its purple aluminum foil texture, ready to receive them. The morning was gorgeous and once again gave the impression of a mountainous frosted cake, but the beauty was somewhat diminished by the gravity of the task at hand.

"Thanks for all you've a-done," Mario said. "Don't a-worry; we'll take it from here."

"None of us are worried, Smash Brothers."

A newcomer had emerged from around the corner in the direction of the _Starcutter_ , from which the Smashers had just recently emptied its supply of Dream Water. She was over seven feet tall, sleek and muscular, sporting battered, gleaming armor and short white hair with one long strand hanging down the front. Her dark, blood-orange eyes, combined with the thick red scar running down one side of her weathered face and pointed ears, made her appear for all intents and purposes, as Ness remembered thinking, like an angel straight from Hell.

Zelda paled. "Impa!"

And indeed, there she stood, the first leader and founder of the Smash Brothers, having fallen during the Battle of Fourside City. All the Smashers were astounded by her presence—even Sora, who could feel an intangible energy radiating from her being.

"I've come to see you off—not as your old leader, but as a comrade and a friend. Professor Gadd, Meta Knight, and Mario have done an exemplary job leading you in my absence, and I regret I cannot be there to fight alongside you in the flesh."

"It's a-good to see you," Mario said. Most of them had had some kind of supernatural visitation by this point, so another guest from beyond the veil no longer seemed that strange. In fact, Impa's arrival felt empowering, if anything.

Impa nodded in acknowledgement. "Now…Meta Knight was always the one with the greatest oratorical eloquence. But let me put in few words.

"You've each come so far. The very fact of your presence here this morning is proof that your hearts are among the strongest in all the Smash Universe. And that is good, because this is what we need to defeat Xehanort: hearts so strong that even the Heartless cannot conquer them. I don't mean through trickery or manipulation; all of us have a dark side which can be teased out. But I mean when the hardest choices arrive, you must have both the physical and moral strength to make the difficult decisions—even if they are heart-rending.

"Xehanort has martialed an army the likes of which neither Nintendo, nor Sony, nor Microsoft, nor RareWare, nor any of This World has ever seen. Not an army of soldiers, but of evil ideas—tempters that have caused you to doubt yourselves. Your counterattack must be a staunch refusal to accept those ideas; to instead cling to the truths you already know. And this is the essential truth: You are all good. I'll repeat: You are _all_ good. Don't let anyone ever tell you differently."

Impa paused for a moment to let that much sink in. Then she gave one of her rare smiles. "I see the light in your eyes, the experience in your faces, the hardships you have endured, and the humble confidence you have developed. And that is how I know you are ready. That is how I know you have fulfilled everything I'd hoped the Smash Brothers would become when I organized them. So, my friends…noble warriors from sundry realms…go, and represent what we all know to be true: that the Super Smash Brothers will never stop fighting!"

There was cheering and applause. They hadn't heard such a rousing speech since the War of the Hands. Finally, Impa indicated for them to settle down. She turned to Zelda.

"Your Highness…know this: Should you succeed this day, all the wrongs that have been committed against us shall be made right. Balance will be restored. And our hearts will once again be joined with those of our fallen loved ones. Now go, and never lose heart."

Her figure was swept away with the snowy flurries, leaving the thirteen heroes (excluding the Ice Climbers and Game & Watch) with one thing left to do.

They passed through the portal into another world.

* * *

Brimstone and lava; boiling heat and steaming vents; rocky walkways and a pulsing scarlet sky. This was what greeted the Smashers as they exited the portal, the last leg of their journey before them.

Those who had still been wearing the _Starcutter_ 's silver jackets soon removed them, for although Solar had certainly been hotter, there was no spaceship to insulate them from the fiery furnace that was Bowser's Road. The rocky trail wound across a wide lake of magma, beady-eyed Lava Bubbles jumping beside or even over the path every now and then.

Mario looked upon Bowser's Castle, which was at the center of the craterous lava lake, with particular dread. The keep's iron drawbridge, and spike-shelled towers, and coal-black walls and ramparts were all as he remembered them, including the giant obsidian engravings of Bowser's face, the largest of which constituted the castle entrance. He recalled that the last time Smithy had invaded the Mushroom Kingdom, a giant sentient sword called Exor had speared itself straight down through the castle, claiming the fortress for its nefarious creator. This time, Bowser's Castle featured no such symbols of conquest—except one.

As had been the case with Hyrule Castle, a winding staircase of luminous turquoise steps wound their way up from the top of Bowser's Castle toward a mass of violent black clouds. The horrible silhouettes of thousands of Heartless swarmed around it like demons, complemented by the black lightning that flickered across the red sky. A hauntingly familiar sight for Sora.

Yet even as the Smashers began their approach, the raging whirlwind seemed to subside. The Heartless continued their erratic orbits, but Castle Oblivion within became quite visible in the strong magmatic glow. Its twisted Gothic architecture was as disorienting as ever, the spidery buttresses and pointed roofs extending in multiple directions. The occasional flying Paratroopa or Paragoomba drifted around Bowser's Castle here and there, and Koopatrols guarded the entrance, but otherwise, Bowser's minions appeared to be vastly outnumbered by the Heartless' presence.

"Here we go," Mario said.

As a tight group, they filed down the rocky trail about two or three abreast. Ness took a peek over the edge and immediately regretted it, thinking how insensitive Bowser was to neglect installing guardrails. Sora and Zelda kept looking up at Castle Oblivion, reliving unpleasant memories and wondering what Xehanort was playing at, inviting them into his castle like party guests. Surely it couldn't be that easy.

Here and there, a Heartless Paratroopa or excited Lava Bubble or malcontent Magikoopa would take notice of the newcomers and attack. But the occasional Thundershock or PK Freeze or egg toss was sufficient to fend off whatever baddies dared approach the Smashers. Thus they proceeded until they stood before Bowser's gaping obsidian mouth.

DK and Mario made quick work of the two Koopatrol guards, and after heaving one of the thick red double doors open, they led the rest inside.

The first floor was enormous. Large portions of the stone floor were covered in lava, with strange flipping catwalks running over the bubbling orange liquid. Buzzy Beetles and Spinies crawled along the ceiling and walls. A series of small platforms led from one end to the other, but hungry staked Chain Chomps; suspiciously dormant, greenish-gray Thwomps; spiked obsidian columns thrusting in and out like pistons; and patrolling Hammer Bros were all in place to obstruct the intruders' way to the winding staircase on the opposite side.

Luigi was about to take the first leap, but Red grabbed his trousers and pulled him back, inclining his head toward Zelda.

"Oh."

They all placed their hands on Zelda's, and a moment later, vanished in the leafy cyclone of Farore's Wind, reappearing at the foot of the stairs.

"Wow," Sora said. "Do all of your worlds have cheap shortcuts like these?"

"Yep," Fox said.

"Nope," Yoshi said at the same time. Yoshi's Island could be a surprisingly merciless place to navigate.

Some of them were sweating now as they ascended the stairs, fighting past several different manifestations of Heartless and Nobodies along the way. The flickering torches on each landing often made it difficult to discern between the shadowy creatures and the Smashers' own shadows, providing an added element of eeriness to their experience.

"Kinda wish the Forger took a page from the Mystic's book," DK panted as they reached the highest level, a single door separating them from whatever lay beyond. "Seems pointless to try and trip us up with monsters he knows won't stop us."

"Unless," Zelda said quietly, "the point _wasn't_ to stop us at all."

Once they had all caught their breath, no one seemed particularly inclined to open the door. The apprehension among them was almost tangible. Finally, Sora stepped forward and grabbed the iron handle.

"We've got this," he said, and opened the door.

It was an empty sort of antechamber, with blank stone walls and only one interesting feature. An almost blindingly bright, heart-shaped aperture faced them—an ominous doorway that seemed both inviting and foreboding at the same time.

"Door?" Kirby said curiously.

Sora frowned. "Looks like a portal of some kind. I saw something similar once in Hollow Bastion; it was a doorway to Kingdom Hearts. This looks different, though…"

"Could be a trap." Samus cocked her arm cannon as others drew their weapons as well.

"But what choice do we have?" Yoshi said.

"This one."

Sora, trying not to think about the very real possibility that he was leading all his friends to their deaths, gave the Kingdom Key a practice swing…and stepped inside. The others followed close behind.

* * *

Mario stepped out of the light and beheld Bowser's throne room. The scorched red carpets; the statuettes of the Koopa King and his Koopalings; the candlelit chandeliers were all there. Even the golden throne, with its resident monarch, was in place. And standing beside Bowser was his most frequent abductee.

"Bowser?" Mario said wonderingly. "Princess?" They both took notice of him and smiled—one with bloodthirsty, pointed teeth; the other with about as much sincerity as a Hillary Clinton plushie. Neither Smasher appeared physically different, but the strange feeling in the air more than made up for it.

"Where's everyone else?"

Mario turned to the speaker, finding an equally confused Yoshi at his side…but no one else. Behind them was a sheer stone wall, with no door whatsoever—heart-shaped or otherwise.

Bowser rested his chin on his claw, looking bored. "Well? Are you gonna do it or what?"

Mario blinked. What was going on here? "Do a-what?"

Yoshi was the first to figure it out. He withdrew Game & Watch's black bucket, hopped forward, and drenched both Bowser and Peach in Dream Water before they could do anything else.

"Oh my," Peach said, straining water out of her dress and opening her parasol, spinning Perry dry as best she could.

"Whooooaa!" Perry said dizzily.

"You chumps!"

Bowser jumped out of his chair and clenched his fists in front of Mario and Yoshi. "Did you seriously just walk straight into Xehanort's palm? You didn't even think to bring that Sora kid with you…and now we're finished!"

Now Mario was even more confused. "What do you a-mean? And where's—"

A tremendous ground tremor cut him off, followed by a very concerning crack. Next thing Mario knew, he and the others were tumbling down through the collapsing floor, into the darkness of the castle dungeons. The descent seemed to occur with unnatural languor, as if time were slowing down, or as if Mario had entered the dreamlike realm of Alice's Wonderland. As he fell, mechanical noises whirred around him, and he could make out the blurred shapes of conveyer belts with stamp machines and metal mesh flatteners and smelting pots and welding arms shaping gray blocks into life-size beings: the Axem Rangers, based on his brief glimpses of the weapons being designed at every stage of the industrial process. Decompressing steam and anvil strikes and other miscellaneous factory noises barraged his ears like an atonal orchestra.

Finally, he hit solid ground, though oddly without pain or the breaking of bones. The acrid stench of soot and ash choked his throat and stung his eyes. He, Yoshi, Bowser, and Peach rose to their feet again as if they'd fallen no more than a few stair steps, but their physical wholeness was quickly eclipsed by the dreaded figure before them.

In this the deepest basement of the subterranean factory, the glowing forge shed light on the ancient face of the diabolical blacksmith of legend—Smithy.

He was at least twice as large as Bowser, with a trapezoidal steel torso, short arms and legs with large brass hands and feet, and a head that resembled some kind of freakish robotic Santa Claus with searing red eyes, a white beard with strips curling up like metal shavings, impressively thick eyebrows, and a stately gold crown. Smithy exuded an untempered passion to create, as loathsome and deadly as those creations might be.

"Huo ho ho!" The Forger's iron-bellied boom sounded like a freakish robotic Santa as well. "I've long awaited our reunion, Mario! Master Xehanort was wise to lure you and your friends here under the illusion that you could succeed."

Mario drew his OmniWrench, while Yoshi readied an egg, Peach brandished an indignant Perry, and Bowser pounded his fists together.

"We turned you into scrap metal once before, Smithy," Bowser growled, "and since you were dumb enough to steal my castle _again_ , I'll be glad to recycle your body a second time."

Smithy just roared with laughter as he drew an absurdly huge forger's hammer, his eyes burning like hot coals.

"I'm going to enjoy this."

* * *

DK and Samus stepped out of the portal and into…a boxing ring.

Bright floodlights shone from all around, focused on the square battleground at the center. DK recognized the red star designs on the ground; the dark green dome ceiling high above; and the nearly empty bleachers which ran around the perimeter of the ring, mostly hidden in shadow.

"Where are we, Kong?" Samus continually pointed her arm cannon in different directions. As a bounty hunter, she wasn't very comfortable under a spotlight in the middle of a dark room.

"It's…King K. Rool's airship," he said disbelievingly. "We must've been transported here instead of moving on through Bowser's Castle." Then he noticed the three-member audience, which were all just standing there in the front row, staring at him. "Guys! What are you doing here?"

Before Tiny, Lanky, or Chunky Kong could react, Samus dumped her black bucket over their heads, drenching them in Dream Water. They shuddered and shook water out of their hair, and looked up at the two Smashers in confusion.

"Shoot; I'm dreaming again, aren't I?" Lanky said. "I knew I shouldn't've eaten those fermented oranges…"

Chunky gulped and began to shudder. "I sure hope we're dreaming." He appeared to be staring at something behind DK and Samus, thus directing them in an about-face.

Before them was Cyber K. Rool, the ¾ robot gleaming with a new chrome coating, the scarlet cybernetic eye shining as if it had never been crushed by that anchor in the Krystal Koconut. This time, he sported boxing gloves—one a gleaming sapphire blue, the other a deep ruby red—which promised to pack far more than the traditional punch.

"Heh-heh-heh-heh…what a pleasure," the high voice of Ulysses Reeka buzzed. "I'd hoped Master Xehanort's Heart Portal would send me the plumber, or perhaps the telekinetic tween…but you'll do just fine."

"Heart Portal?" Samus and the Kongs braced themselves for a fight. "What are you and Xehanort up to?"

Cyber K. Rool giggled. "Quite ingenious, isn't it? We knew the Smash Brothers would make a tastier meal if shared amongst the remaining Vassals. The Heart Portal, my invention, sorted you into the destination where your heart best saw fit to take you. And now we are going to have an intimate, very painful conversation."

"DK kicked your trash already!" Tiny said. "And that was just with Yoshi and Link. What makes you think you can beat all of us?"

"Well, for one thing, you simpleton, I'm immortal."

K. Rool's boxing gloves folded in on themselves and formed probably the last thing one would expect to find at the end of an arm. Two Klaptrap heads, one red and one blue, yapped in the gloves' place, spitting small squirts of fire and ice respectively. Then his tail did the same, this time replacing the tip with a yellow Klaptrap emitting sparks of electricity. The cyborg had turned his hands and tail into ravenous elemental crocodiles.

The Vassal's computerized eye gleamed. "And for another, I've had a few weeks to tinker with some inspired new features. Time to die, Smash Brothers!"

* * *

Zelda and Kirby suddenly found themselves in a dark forest—not that it was nighttime already, but the foliage was so dense, the coniferous canopy so closely knit above their heads, that almost no light made it to the forest floor. Thick, ghostly spiderwebs created beautiful nets between trees, and tall ferns and shrubs congested the ground so as to make any semblance of a trail undiscernible.

"This isn't Bowser's Castle," Zelda said, stating the obvious.

Kirby tilted his head curiously as he noticed some creatures fluttering through the branches—the only sounds in the forest's otherwise complete silence. "Bats?"

Something in Zelda's brain raised a red flag. But while she considered this, she noticed two swordsmen standing nearby. They appeared neither hostile nor friendly, merely _there_. And they were warriors she had fought beside on many occasions.

"Friends!" Kirby said as he rushed forward as if to hug them—but instead, he tossed his black bucket into the air, splashing both Marth and Roy and purging them once more.

"What…what is this?" Marth blinked rapidly and shivered from the cold (though blessed) liquid, taking in the figures before him.

"How did we get here?" Roy wondered out loud.

Then the noise of the bats crescendoed—a fluttering whisper at first, but soon increasing to a thunderous chorus. Zelda and the others turned every which way, unsure how to defend themselves.

As one, hundreds of bats converged on a single spot, coagulating in a writhing black mass until they merged and formed a purple-cloaked figure. He leered at them viciously in all his three-foot malice, drawing his cloak around his pale lavender skin.

"Vaati." Zelda gripped her blade tighter still. "You'll pay for what you did to Link and Ganondorf."

Vaati smiled coldly. "On the contrary, princess, throwing in my lot with Master Xehanort has yielded bounteous dividends. And now, here in the Sea of Trees, he has granted me one additional prize to claim: The Triforce, which resides within your breast, a power waiting to be claimed by one with the acumen to wield it to its full potential. A power rather uselessly wasted when it was divided among three inadequate vessels, but soon to belong to me—a delectable enhancement to the piece of Kingdom Hearts I was entrusted with."

Scarcely contained power burned in Zelda's eyes. She had a feeling both the Triforce and Ryu's treasured Dragon Sword were about to manifest themselves in ways she hadn't yet seen. Rage, she knew, would get her nowhere—as much as she hated Vaati for his part in murdering Link and Ganondorf, in delaying the Smash Universe's redemption another long while. But passion, properly bridled, she now knew could be channeled. The raw, natural energy taught to her by Shadow the Hedgehog filled her body with righteous indignation. And Kirby, Marth, and Roy were ready to fight by her side.

"If you want the Triforce," she said, "then come get it."

* * *

Red, Pikachu, and Luigi blinked back the brightness of the sunlight as they came out onto a Pokémon arena. A very special one.

It was made of white cement, with a pale red Pokéball decal spray-painted across the arena. The hexagonal spectator stands were filled with empty benches all around, but these weren't what caused the heroes alarm.

They were in Realgam Tower—a Pokémon tournament facility shaped like a titanic trophy, sleek cylindrical elevators and hexagonal arenas piled on top of the "trophy's" cup and handles like stacks of coins. This particular battleground was the championship arena, and from here they could see the arid stretches of Orre laid out below like the dusty aftermath of a Wild West bandit chase. A low, howling wind made the analogy seem even more appropriate.

And they weren't alone.

Standing just ten feet away, Red's sister, April, and cousin, Gary, regarded them with hands on hips and folded arms respectively—as if they expected him to put on a good show in the upcoming Pokémon battle.

"'Bout time you losers showed up," Gary said.

"April?" Luigi stumbled toward his long-separated love interest, but in the process he tripped and fell on his face, inadvertently dumping his bucket of Dream Water on the two Kanto natives.

Gary looked almost annoyed by his sudden purging, while April stared at Luigi in soaked shock, then ran forward and embraced him.

"I was afraid I'd never see you again."

He rubbed her back. "I'm a-here."

"What's the deal?" Red asked Gary, glancing around anxiously. "We were just in Bowser's Castle, ready to face Xehanort."

"But are you ready to face your father, Red?"

They swiveled to find Quentin striding toward them, Gardevoir floating serenely beside him. The Ascetic was also accompanied by the surviving members of the Elite Four, Lance and Agatha, as well as Mewtwo. The latter Psychic Pokémon's entire being seemed to radiate a dark unkindled energy. It was as if he were in that Cinnabar lab all over again, with the scientists who had created him going on about how they would make him do whatever they wanted, having no idea their lives were about to end.

Red's fists clenched. He wanted to reach for Jigglypuff's Pokéball, but he knew she was in no condition to fight. "Enough is enough, Dad; I don't know how Xehanort brought us here, but this is where I stop your madness once and for all."

Quentin's expression was hard. Unlike other Vassals, he didn't seem to enjoy toying with his opponents. "The only madness that must end, Red, is the widespread Pokémon abuse that has plagued Kanto for generations. Master Xehanort has ensured we will all be judged according to our crimes, that we will receive the rewards or punishments we deserve. What ill reason is there in that? Why must you stubbornly resist the Good to come that has superseded the Good you once knew?"

"You're full of crap, Gramps," Gary couldn't help saying.

"Don't do this, Daddy!" April cried.

Red shook his head. As much as he wanted to believe his father was in the right and that they could join forces, nothing excused Quentin's allegiance to Xehanort. Red had come way too far to give in to temptation now.

"You think you're doing this for the Pokémon; for your family," Red said. "But really you're just doing it for yourself—for power over This World to make it however you want it. If you really cared about us…you'd stop this. You'd stand with us, not against us."

Quentin nodded toward Lance and Agatha, who drew their own Omni Balls. "I can see you must be taught one final lesson," he said. "You _will_ see the truth as I see it—no matter how many others must suffer in the process."

Lance's Flygon and Agatha's Dusclops appeared. Mewtwo levitated above the ground, his eyes glowing a violent magenta. And Quentin recalled Gardevoir and tossed his Omni Ball again.

Through his Spirit Bond, Quentin summoned an enormous Dragon-type Pokémon. It had a long, serpentine emerald body with golden runes imprinted along its scales, and four protruding prongs forming an X-shape around its ancient lizard face. Rayquaza roared like a monstrous, primeval locomotive.

Red said nothing; he just shared meaningful looks with Pikachu, Luigi, April, and Gary, and tossed two more Pokéballs. Sandslash and Parasect emerged, ready to fight for their Trainer.

Gary called forth his own Pokémon: Crawdaunt, essentially a giant crawdad with a yellow star on the tip of its nose. Then April did the same: Flaaffy, a pink half-shorn sheep standing on its hind legs. Pikachu's cheeks sparked. Luigi readied his Omni-Tool, though he was unsure of what his role would be in this conflict.

And so the battle between Pokémon League Champions, between father and son, began.

* * *

Sora, Ness, Fox, and Jody came out on the highest battlements of Castle Oblivion—a vertigo-inducing perspective what with other towers sticking out adjacent, parallel, or diagonally from this one. The blood-red sky crackled with black lightning, taking Sora's mind back to that horrible day over three years ago, when he'd failed the Disney Universe forever. The magmatic heat, though somewhat distant, was still pervasive, the black fortress and the seething lava lake around it serving as a fitting backdrop for Sora's tormented feelings.

"Where's everyone else?" Ness said as they looked around. There was no clear way on or off this rooftop, so there was little reason to walk around.

And then, in the twinkle of an eye, Xehanort appeared before them, hands behind his back as always, his topaz pupils aflame.

Sora summoned his Keyblade, while Jody and Fox drew their guns and Ness caused PSI magic to spark at his fingertips.

"What did you do?" Sora demanded.

Xehanort smiled faintly. "Just as I promised, boy. I brought you and your friends together to confront me and my remaining Vassals in a final bid for This World."

"You lied," Jody said. "You separated us so Sora wouldn't be able to use his Keyblade to stop Organization XIII."

"Yes," the old man mused unapologetically. "Jody Summer…Fox McCloud…Ness…you were the last to be put back under the duplicitous spell of self-righteousness the Heartless had cured. I thought your hearts might be sharpened enough to bring you here with Sora. Do not fret; you shall all be entertained."

"We're done playing your games," Fox said. "Your reign over the Smash Universe is over."

Xehanort's eyes glinted. "Yes," he said slowly. "But only because the Smash Universe will soon be no more…and then I will move on to the next world, and the next."

He gestured out toward their volcanic surroundings. "Do you know the history of this place? It is a microcosm of the pattern followed by all worlds; that is why it intrigued me enough to relocate my castle here. Bowser's Castle has been under the Koopa King's regime time and time again—some less flexible than others—with the goal of maintaining order and expanding into a great kingdom. And yet, it has been overrun and destroyed and conquered as often as Princess Peach's Castle—by the Mario Brothers; by Lord Smithy; by the Shroobs…it seems no matter how many times its king and subjects try to reform, they are always helpless when the time of trial arrives.

"In the same way, Nintendo and the rest of the Smash Universe is under the delusion it can redeem itself. But that is a fiction I have sought to expose; and I must say, the Heartless have brought out your world's guiltiness most beautifully."

"But the Heartless didn't stop us!" Sora said. "The Smash Brothers went after all the other Vassals, defeating them and the Heartless. They proved there are heroes out there who are committed to seeking the light—unlike the darkness you've always sought after. You were wrong about them, Xehanort."

Xehanort nodded. "It is true that your friends advanced further than I expected. But remember this, Sora: Their accomplishments were no greater than what you facilitated in Disney. Do you not remember? When we met in the Keyblade Graveyard, none of Organization XIII remained. Yet that did not significantly deprive me of power then; neither has it done so now. I'm afraid your adventures have only delayed the inevitable—made This World's judgment more complicated, certainly, but not even the Smash Brothers' nobility is enough to stop what's coming. Your little venture was doomed from the beginning…and that is why I permitted it to happen."

Sora narrowed his eyes, but his archenemy's words had begun to get to him. At least one thing was true: He had tried to save Disney with all his might, had even eradicated all his enemies besides the original Xehanort himself, and even that hadn't been enough.

"You don't know the Smash Brothers like I do," Sora said. "This time it'll be different. You'll see."

"We shall all see, Sora."

Xehanort snapped his finger, and four circles appeared in the sky, showing a projection of the divided Twelve battling each of the Vassals: Smithy; Cyber K. Rool; Vaati; Quentin.

"Fight me if you wish, Sora…but either way, you will watch your friends fall, one by one, as you did in the graveyard. No matter how hard they fight, no matter how united their hearts, they cannot slay my Vassals without the Keyblade. They cannot escape the cycle that governs all things, that brings about the Great Convergence, and they will fall."

Two large, dark shapes descended from above and swept Fox, Ness, and Jody off Castle Oblivion's tallest tower. The Heartless Hands, perhaps the most powerful incarnation of Heartless, followed the Smashers as they tumbled down the erratic roofs and walls of the castle, leaving Sora and Xehanort.

"My brothers…when we were banished to This World, the three of us formed a trifecta of power sources. Nightmare, he wielded Might—the Might of armies which inspired fear. L.O.G. wielded the power of the Mind—the ability to manipulate time and memory and events. But I have control over the greatest source of all: the Heart. No power exceeds that of Kingdom Hearts, as I trust you know, Sora…and that is why you cannot win. We were Heart, Might, and Mind…but Heart alone will still prove your undoing."

Sora raised the Kingdom Key even as Xehanort generated his own Keyblade. _For all my friends,_ he thought.

"Not this time."


	33. Chapter 25: Solace for the Soulless (1)

" _Let your heart be your guiding key."_

 _ **~Aqua**_

* * *

Chapter 25: Solace for the Soulless

* * *

 **Smithy's Factory**

* * *

 ** _S_** mithy raised his massive sledgehammer and pointed it at the four Mushroom Kingdom heroes, causing a shower of swords to rain from above. Mario and Yoshi both took cover under Peach's remarkably protective umbrella, while Bowser retreated into his shell to deflect the attack.

But when they uncovered themselves, things were not as they were before. What resembled a gold Snifit head, which had been attached to the nearest wall, was pumping out hot liquid metal. Smithy was pounding this molten alloy into Shypers—metal Shy Guys on sword-pointed pogo sticks. There were already half a dozen bouncing toward the heroes, and more on the way.

Bowser clawed his way into the first one, tearing its metal body to shreds. Peach closed her eyes and allowed her Anger Vibe to take control. Seconds later, she and Perry were both coated in raging flames, and they ran straight toward the Shypers, reducing them back to liquid form. Yoshi drew one into his mouth and spit it at another, impaling its sword end on the other's face.

Mario leapt over them all, his sights set on Smithy. With an earth-rattling ring, they clashed, OmniWrench and mason's hammer. Mario knew, however, that as far as physical strength went, he was no match for the Vassal. He slid under Smithy's subsequent swing, between the Forger's legs, then activated his weapon's special magnetic properties.

The super magnet pulled slowly at Smithy's entire body, but immediately his hammer jerked into his own face, damaging its metal structure. Mario activated and deactivated the OmniWrench's magnet over and over, causing the villain to whack himself repeatedly in a truly humiliating fashion.

"Stop a-hitting yourself," Mario quipped.

Meanwhile, Bowser had made his way over to Smelter, the source of the Shypers. He pushed off the ground into the air, did a flip, and brought his thick body down in a mighty Bowser Bomb, severing Smelter clean off the wall. Molten metal trickled out of the open orifice for a little while longer, but soon stopped entirely. Yoshi and Peach finished off the last of the Shypers, and then all three of them turned to behold what had become of Smithy.

His face had been destroyed so as to reveal his true form: a sentient metal shapeshifter. His head had been reduced to a sort of rounded, simplified variation of Mingy Jongo, the crown and hot coal eyes still in place along with a creepy black line for a mouth.

"Had enough yet?" Bowser taunted.

Smithy laughed. "That was just a warm-up. Now, behold the power of Kingdom Hearts in action!"

His head transformed—but unlike the last time Mario and Co. had faced Smithy, this time it also expanded and enlarged. Smithy's single head stretched and duplicated into five separate heads, each with a peculiar set of eyes on the strange smelted shapes: a tank; a wizard; a coffin-like mask; a treasure chest; and in the center, the bare skull-like one from before. The Forger had become a veritable blacksmithing hydra.

"Well, that seems slightly less than fair," Perry remarked.

"Fair?" Smithy roared with pleasure. "Life in This World isn't about fairness. It's about shaping yourself into what you want to be—even if that means liquefying your enemies into raw material. Who do you think recommended the puppet Geno to Xehanort as a fit vessel for part of his Heartless power? I have stoked and brazed and welded my way past the irksome power of wishes, exacting my revenge on Geno and then the rest of the Star Spirits by reducing them to power generators in my factory. Xehanort has given me the tools necessary to realize my dream of a world ruled by weapons!"

 _He's the reason Geno's gone._ That thought kindled a fresh spark of anger within Mario. Geno had been a dear friend, an embodiment of the stars' watchfulness over the wishes of the pure-hearted. And Mario was determined that Geno would not have died in vain. He ran forward and swung the OmniWrench toward the center head.

But Smithy shifted so that Mario met with the iron coffin Mask Head instead, which was so hard that even Ratchet's prized possession had no effect on it.

At the same time, Smithy's Tank Head regurgitated an explosive bullet, blasting Bowser off his feet. The Magic Head summoned a meteor that struck Yoshi and smashed him against the opposite wall. And the Treasure Head brought Peach to her knees with a spell that made her feel like she had just swallowed a Poison Shroom.

Mario crashed to the ground and looked in dismay at the OmniWrench, which had snapped in half against the Mask Head. He barely rolled out of the way of Smithy's hammer and noticed his friends' predicaments, his heart plummeting.

Without Sora, how could they win?

* * *

 **K. Rool's Airship**

* * *

Samus and the Kongs had the common sense to put as much distance between themselves and Cyber K. Rool's three snapping Klaptrap appendages as possible. From the stands surrounding the boxing ring, they unleashed a bombardment of charge shots, missiles, coconuts, feathers, grapes, and pineapples—all of which bounced off of the cyborg's body like discarded fruit (because for the most part, that's what the projectiles actually were).

All the while, K. Rool's Klaptraps spat bursts of fire, ice, and electricity in haphazard directions, requiring each Kong and bounty hunter to stay on their toes. Even then, Tiny had to whip her ponytails around to put out the flame that had caught on one; Samus had to reboot her visor when it was almost shorted by electricity; and Chunky tripped and fell onto his face because his feet had been encased in ice.

That left two heroes to make a more direct approach from either side. DK bounded over the ropes and sustained his flight by spinning with his arms like a hairy propeller, knocking aside the red Klaptrap and landing a respectable kick to K. Rool's head. Lanky bounced onto the elastic ropes and used them to catapult himself with a congested cheer, swinging his joined arms around himself like a jump rope to fend off the blue Klaptrap, then latched himself onto K. Rool's tail. He wrapped his absurdly long arms around the rear appendage and held on for dear life while its owner swung it about like a tempestuous mechanical bull. The orangutan somehow managed to stuff an exploding orange into the yellow Klaptrap's mouth.

These combined efforts sent the King of the West reeling and then crashing onto his stomach. DK and Lanky landed on the other side of the ring with satisfaction, high-fiving each other and jeering at the downed crocodile.

The cybernetic eye sparked from the damage of DK's kick, but its owner clambered back to its feet, none too happy about the round's result. Now his champion's belt—which DK hadn't taken the time to notice before—became perforated with at least a dozen ominous holes. The quarter of K. Rool's face with its original scaly flesh grinned while DK's and Lanky's grins faded.

A laser from the cybernetic eye blasted Lanky out of the ring entirely, and at the same time, while the other three heroes were coming around to return to the fight, the belt holes began unloading merciless rounds of exploding oranges in every direction, the belt rotating like a deadly fruit dispenser.

DK was pummeled by several exploding oranges before he found his arms and legs clamped together above and below him by the Klaptrap hands. He barely noticed in his peripherals as the Kongs retreat to the rafters and Samus into her Morph Ball to evade the worst of the citrus explosions. K. Rool brought him up to look him straight in the eye, the red bulb glinting triumphantly.

"Your death is of little consequence to my plans," Reeka's voice said. "But I shall enjoy it nonetheless."

DK struggled, but the piercing metal teeth of the Klaptraps were inescapable. All the while, the cybernetic eye began to glow brighter than ever before, charging up a particularly nasty laser that would undoubtedly sear straight through the Kong's brain.

"Oh no you don't!"

Tiny's ponytails whipped across K. Rool's face as she spun around it like one of those floating spinner toys. Samus followed up with a Screw Attack, digging into the Klaptrap holding DK's legs and forcing it to relinquish its hold.

That was all DK needed. He swung back and forth to build momentum, then brought his feet full into K. Rool's chest. At the same time, Tiny slide-kicked the Klaptrap holding his arms and freed him completely.

K. Rool wobbled on the balls of his feet, and would have likely regained his footing had nothing else happened. But that "nothing else," hanging from the rafters like they were vines, came down with a literal ton of gravitational force, directing his strongest Primate Punch at the Vassal's face.

King K. Rool was down again, this time on his back, Chunky standing on his mostly metal belly. The keyhole was flashing on his chest again, as it had done in the Krystal Koconut. But again, there was no key to pierce it.

K. Rool's body began flashing—slowly at first, then faster. And faster. Chunky stared at the cyborg below him with childlike confusion.

DK had a horrible sinking feeling, realizing what was about to happen. "Chunky, get out of there!"

Samus and Tiny quickly leapt out of the boxing ring to join Lanky on the stands, while DK made to pull his cousin away.

But he was too late.

The self-destruct blasted Donkey Kong out of the ring. He could feel several bones snapping as he slammed against one of the sets of floodlights, shattering the glass and collapsing onto the benches. The metal shards of Cyber K. Rool's body shot in every direction, and it was all the rest could do to duck and hide to avoid being shredded by shrapnel.

But the King of the West wasn't done. All the fragments somehow came to a halt in midair, then converged back in the ring. Seconds later, Cyber K. Rool had reformed himself like an egg sucking its yolk back up and mending its own shattered shell.

As for Chunky, all they could see was a smoking black heap in one of the opposite corners. It wasn't moving.

"Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh!"

* * *

 **The Sea of Trees**

* * *

Vaati's army of cyclopean bats swarmed around Marth, Roy, and Kirby, demanding their full attention. The two swordsmen slashed off bats' wings here, stabbed through eyes there, but there were so many that they still sustained several deep cuts and lesions.

Kirby tried sucking up the bats, but apparently they were too intelligent for him, veering off to either side of his vacuum mouth's range and coming at him from behind. He rolled and kicked his way behind a tree and settled for spitting rocks and branches at the beasts in the form of yellow stars.

Zelda and Vaati were engaged in a fast-paced swordfight. The Hylian princess's Dragon Sword was up against Vaati's custom Keyblade, which resembled the dark purple wings of his bats, veins of angry crimson running along the blade, a more-than-bloodshot eye near the hilt.

"You know," Vaati hissed as he leapt out of the way of Zelda's swing, "when I took Ganondorf's place, I was _going_ to adopt a new Organization XIII nickname for myself. But I've found that 'the Demon Prince' suits me just as well—if not better. With neither hero nor royal heir, Hyrule will need a new role model to look up to, don't you think, princess?"

"Do you ever shut up?" Zelda was not her normal self. It took all her self-restraint to avoid descending into the darkness of the Triforce of Power, like she had in Pandora. All she knew was that from all she had seen and experienced, Darkness could not be defeated with Darkness. She had to be Light.

Vaati teleported behind Zelda and kicked her to the ground. She rolled out of the way of his Keyblade and cast Din's Fire to delay another strike. As Vaati teleported to dodge the fire, she dove toward his new location and struck him with a burst of blue magic, pushing him some ten feet back.

The Demon Prince brushed his lavender hair aside and smiled. "You may have your share of spells and magics…but you forget that I am the great Wind Mage. I've kidnapped you at least three times, so believe me when I say you don't stand a chance—even with your little power boosts."

He raised his Keyblade, causing a cyclone to form around him. Zelda's eyes widened as the tornado whisked toward her, threatening to throw her against the trees, or worse—suck her inside. Then she looked at the legendary sword in her grip, and at the completed Triforce glowing on the back of her left hand, and realized she had nothing to be afraid of.

Instead of running from the twister, she ran straight at it, slicing straight through the high winds. Vaati watched in shock as she sailed over his head, the Dragon Sword gleaming as she jumped acrobatically off of several trees and used his own wind powers as leverage to perform the weapon's signature move, the Flying Swallow. Vaati was unable to react before she plunged her sword straight into his head, putting an end to his wind magic.

But Vaati just laughed as the keyhole flashed on his chest, for he knew there was no way for her to finish him off. He pulled himself free of the Dragon Sword and thrust his Keyblade into Zelda's chest.

She cried out and then choked, collapsing as she slid off the blade's end onto the ground, blood seeping through her already blood-red dress.

Vaati generated a ball of plum-colored magic in his free hand, pointing it down at Zelda.

"Thus ends the Hylian line. Nayru's Love won't save you this time…"

The magic was intercepted by two other swords: the Falchion and the Binding Blade. Marth and Roy glared at Vaati, completely united in spite of Roy's fragmented origin story.

"You shall not harm her again!" Marth said.

"Oh, don't worry," Vaati snickered, raising his Keyblade. "I'll harm you two first."

A gust of wind blew him head over heels into a nearby tree. Marth and Roy looked in surprise at Tornado Kirby, whose head was now topped with a diamond circlet and a miniature tornado swirling above it. He had absorbed some of Vaati's dissipating wind magic and used the Wind Mage's own powers against him.

Vaati picked himself back up and fixed the heroes with a vengeful glare. He threw his Keyblade aside and closed his eyes, his body beginning to enlarge and transform.

"That was a low blow, Star Warrior…Now allow me to return the favor by blowing your _minds._ "

His body had by then settled into his core form: a sort of giant version of his cyclopean bats, the single eye boring into them with gold Egyptian-esque fringes. He possessed many wings instead of a single pair, two long arms composed of segmented, writhing black spheres ending in gold claws, and sported a gold crescent on top. A Demon Prince indeed.

Tornado Kirby narrowed his eyes beside Marth and Roy. "Fight!"

* * *

 **Realgam Tower**

* * *

Flygon caused a wall of swirling sand to rise from the ground and fall toward Parasect and Gary's Crawdaunt in a smothering Sand Tomb. In response, the former used Dig to burrow beneath the ground (the arena was founded on cement, but that never seems to matter to Pokémon), while the latter used Protect to render its shell temporarily immune to the attack.

In the midst of all of the trainers' commands and warnings, Crawdaunt followed up with a water-swishing Crabhammer, striking Flygon in the back and sending it toward the ground. Parasect opportunely popped out of the ground, Spored its opponent into paralysis, and Cut across its leathery chest.

Dusclops caused sudden flashes of black and white to cloud Sandslash's mind. The Confuse Ray rendered it unable to focus, even Slashing toward its companion, April's Flaaffy. The electric sheep barely dodged the deadly claws, then emitted a yellow haze called Cotton Spore, dramatically reducing Sandslash's speed. It followed up with Aromatherapy, curing Sandslash of its confusion.

But Dusclops had taken the opportunity to generate a ghostly Night Shade, darkening its immediate surroundings and, in the dark, striking both Pokémon with Shadow Punch. It took some recoil damage from Sandslash's back spikes and Flaaffy's electrified wool, but its opponents fared worse by far.

Luigi yelped as he realized Rayquaza had chosen him as its first victim. The Legendary Pokémon froze him in place with a Scary Face that put all of the ghosts in Luigi's Mansion to shame, then began charging a deadly Hyper Beam. Luigi panicked, but just managed to switch his Omni-Tool to its shield setting, encasing himself in a translucent orange force field just before the Hyper Beam pulsed into it.

Red's Cooper Cane speared into Rayquaza's forehead, eliciting a deafening Screech, but giving Luigi a little time before the Pokémon started thrashing in a dragonish Outrage. The plumber dashed up to the dragon and executed a hastily but effectively placed Super Jump, dealing significant damage and causing Rayquaza to fly away as it struggled to remove the Cooper Cane with its rather inadequately long arms.

Pikachu and Mewtwo met in a brilliant clash of Volt Tackle and Aura Sphere, respectively, their energy-shielded bodies bouncing off each other like radioactive particles. The darkness in Mewtwo's eyes match the brilliant light within his opponent's, though both knew the truth: there was no way Mewtwo would lose.

Pikachu landed on the ground again and Quick Attacked to avoid several Shadow Balls. He positioned himself directly below the floating Pokémon and quickly summoned a thick bolt of Thunder, but Mewtwo Teleported out of the way and reappeared right behind Pikachu, using his Psychic powers to freeze the electric mouse in place. It was over.

But not in the way Mewtwo expected. For as he whipped his tail around to pound Pikachu into the ground, the tail met not with Pikachu but with a black bucket, spilling Dream Water onto himself and purging him of the Heartless.

Mewtwo's eyes reverted from darkness to light as he shared a meaningful look with Pikachu. _"Thank you. Now it is my turn."_

Mewtwo caused Pikachu's Dream Water bucket to levitate over to the other battles, sprinkling its salvific substance onto Lance, Agatha, Flygon, and Dusclops. Quentin backed away in astonishment as within seconds, the reawakened humans and Pokémon turned on him.

"It's over, Dad!" Red said. He, April, Gary, Lance, and Agatha stood with their Pokémon (and with Luigi), which were in varying states of health. "This is your last chance. Stand down, and help us stop Xehanort."

"It's not too late, Daddy," April pleaded.

Quentin just shook his head as he Returned Rayquaza to the Omni Ball. He looked every bit the Ascetic—a man who had deprived himself of worldly pleasures to reach a state of enlightenment, and therefore was utterly convinced that those who did not agree with his perspective were living in ignorance. He knew he could just call upon the Omni Ball to snatch all his opponents' Pokémon and leave them nearly defenseless, as he had once done at the Pokémon League against the Elite Four, but something held him back from using such a technique against his own flesh and blood. "That is not the will of the Pokémon."

"Which Pokémon, Gramps?" Gary challenged. "I'm no spiritualist, but I kinda doubt all Pokémon want the same thing. Rayquaza? He's not exactly a friend to the human race."

"Silly child." The Omni Ball opened once more. "The Spirit Bond does not lie; I have felt their will, and they are all in agreement: It is time for This World to be made anew."

From the Omni Ball appeared Gardevoir, floating with dangerous, lilting grace. And in her wake, a steady stream of other Pokémon emerged, small black figures shaped like letters of the alphabet with a single unemotional eye on each one. Unown.

They poured out of the ball like angry crows, mobbing all who opposed Quentin. One Pokémon after another succumbed to their chaotic formations, an ancient technique known as Hidden Power. Parasect; Sandslash; Crawdaunt; Flaaffy; Flygon; Dusclops; they were all overwhelmed and fainted as a result. The rest were pushed out of the arena toward the fringe, fending off the Unown as best they could. Luigi hollered as his hat was torn from his head. Even Mewtwo struggled to avoid the crossfire of sentient runes.

Quentin, however, looked passive; he issued no instructions, didn't appear to be exercising any control over the Pokémon. He closed his eyes. "As the Pokémon will it, so let it be."

Then there was a scream as someone lost their footing and fell backward off of Realgam Tower.

Mewtwo, pushed to his limit, let out a yell and unleashed a powerful, invisible energy wave called Psyshock. The Unown tumbled through the air like stray slips of paper, vanishing back into the Omni Ball in quick succession.

Once they were all gone, Mewtwo fell to the ground and collapsed, the strain of the attack depriving him of consciousness. Pikachu, Red, Gary, Luigi, Lance, and Agatha remained, fatigued and covered in cuts and bruises. They had no energy left with which to resist Gardevoir, however she chose to act next. No energy even to register what had just happened.

It took Quentin a long moment before he realized what was wrong. There was someone missing. His enlightened confidence was reduced to disbelief.

"…April?" He scanned the ragtag heroes before him. "Where is she?"

A horrible silence followed. Slowly, Red and Luigi looked at each other with trembling bodies, and they turned and looked over the edge of the tower, which stood some 200-odd feet above the ground. It was so far away, and yet that distant speck below confirmed their worst fear.

Red didn't even need to speak as he looked back at his father with a gaunt, empty expression.

"No…" Now Quentin was shaking. "The Unown…they couldn't have…that's not what I…what the bond…"

"You killed your daughter, Quentin," Lance said bluntly, without a single ounce of pleasure. "Now you've accomplished all you desired: The Pokémon League is gone; Kanto's under your thumb; and not even your family can stand in your way. I hope it was worth it."

Quentin's eyes were red. A keyhole was flashing vulnerably on his chest—though Red had no way to pierce it even if he'd wanted to.

"I must go to her," he said, desperately casting the Omni Ball. "She may yet be alive."

But this time, nothing happened. The ball just rolled on the ground and came to an anticlimactic stop. Gardevoir did not depart, neither did any other Pokémon come forth. It appeared that the will of the Pokémon and that of Quentin had finally diverged.

Quentin yelled in anguish, falling to his knees and sobbing, no longer appearing concerned with his opponents. "April! How can this be?"

His eyes shot open with new, heart-wrenched understanding. He fixed his eyes on Red and Gary. "Now I see," Quentin whispered. "You were right, nephew. I have been attuned to the spirits of the Pokémon for so long that I stopped questioning whether it was a united voice or a partial one which I heeded. Most Pokémon are essentially good…but there are those who would wish harm upon mankind, and theirs is the voice I have hearkened to for years.

"And you, Red…you tried to convince me, all this time, but I refused to see reason. It is too late for my redemption…" In Quentin's hand appeared a Keyblade, fashioned like a petrified willow branch with a Pokéball engraved on its hilt. "But perhaps not for yours."

"Dad!" Red cried.

But Quentin had already stabbed himself in the heart. His ocean blue eyes shone with a final spark of buried wisdom, and then he fell forward, motionless.

The heroes watched as Quentin's body…stayed the same. It didn't evaporate into white hearts as the other Vassals had done.

"What a-happened?" Luigi said, himself still in denial about what had happened to April. "Didn't we a-win?"

"I fear," Agatha croaked, directing their attention to the Pokémon Quentin had left behind, "the Vassal of Kanto is not who we thought."

Gardevoir's whole body was enveloped in magenta energy, her eyes brightest of all. There was a hypnotic power in them Red could have sworn he'd seen in Quentin's as well. Her soft white dress and lily green hair whisked in the unnatural blusters blowing from her stirred figure. There was a malevolence, hidden until now; an evil that exceeded any Red had ever seen in human eyes. And then she spoke to their minds, like Mewtwo spoke.

 _"The old woman speaks the truth: Master Xehanort's true Vassal over the Pokémon realms…is me."_

* * *

 **Castle Oblivion**

* * *

Fox, Ness, and Jody tumbled down the steep, illogical ramparts of Castle Oblivion until they managed to slow their fall against a white brick wall and land on the green shingles of another tower's roof—this one jutting perpendicularly from the castle's central structure.

Soon the two Heartless Hands had floated down to the Smashers' level, and before any of the Smashers could react, one of the Hands snapped, and all of their special equipment and powers became useless—including their guns, Captain Falcon's helmet, Ness's PSI energy, and Fox's reflector.

"Now I see why the others hate you so much," Fox muttered as the Hands' palms glowed with crimson energy.

Ness, the only one of the three who had seen this before, paled at the foreboding sight. "Jump!"

He, Fox, and Jody slid down the other side of the horizontal roof tower to avoid the bright energy blast that followed. They crawled around opposite sides of the steeply slanted shingles and attacked the Heartless Hands from different directions. Ness came from behind waving his yo-yo over his head like a cowboy, flinging it expertly over four of the giant fingers—two from each Hand—and cinching them together like a lasso. Fox threw himself at one Hand feet first, while Jody plowed her shoulder into the back of the other.

All three heroes were promptly extracted by the Hands' hanging black tendrils and cast off with several dizzying shakes. They barely rolled away from the first of a series of shadowy missiles deployed by the left Hand while evading the searching laser beams shooting from the fingertips of its right counterpart. The Heartless' imitation of Master and Crazy Hand was disturbingly accurate.

"What now?" Jody panted. They had by now jumped down to another tower, this one protruding at a 45-degree angle from the rest of Castle Oblivion.

Ness shook his head despondently. "Without our powers, we don't stand a chance."

Fox nodded, but with that nod came a wily smile. "You're right." He pulled out his black bucket. "So we use someone else's."

Both Heartless Hands came down as unstoppable fists, apparently not concerned about the structural integrity of the castle. Fox, Ness, and Jody waited until the last possible moment, then backflipped away from the giant fists and dumped their Dream Water into the bright red heart shapes in the center of each enemy's palm.

A loud hiss preceded the immediate jerking back of the Hands, which writhed with a ferocity that would have made Crazy Hand proud as the Dream Water melted and tore them apart, just like what happened to the caged Heartless in Wumba's Wigwam when the shaman had applied a drop of Totem Brew. There were no maniacal screams, which made their destruction eerier, but no less satisfying for the three heroes.

"That's for Dedede," Ness said.

* * *

Sora and Xehanort clashed Keyblades again and again. It was all too familiar to the boy, and in spite of everything he'd been through since their last battle, he had a terrible feeling that this one was heading in the same direction. The worst part was that he knew Xehanort was taking his time, toying with Sora to give them both plenty of time to glance at the circular projections in the scarlet sky, within which the dire Vassal battles were taking place.

"Need a respite? Very well." Xehanort stood back while Sora caught his breath. "You think you are special, Sora…and you are—but not for the reasons you've long assumed. What was it that fool Ansem used to say…he claimed because your heart was connected to so many others—to Riku; Kairi; Roxas; Naminé; Ventus; King Mickey and his royal buffoons…you were to become the most powerful of all Keyblade Wielders, merely because of all these interweaving bonds." He smirked. "But that wasn't true, was it, Sora? No…you possess another, far rarer quality, one which has been the only real threat to my power, to my administration of judgments from world to world."

"What are you talking about?" Sora narrowed his eyes.

"Rather than tell you," Xehanort said, "I would see that magic in your heart snuffed out before you die. And so shall it be; now let us witness together as your friends succumb to the greater darkness which rules the lesser light of every universe!"

In spite of his desire to beat Xehanort, Sora found his attention absorbed by the proceedings of each of the Vassal battles. In each case, the heroes were fighting valiantly, striking significant blows, making bold sacrifices…and yet none of them were able to finish off the Vassals without the Kingdom Key. Sora's heart sunk; the darkness really couldn't be stopped.

And then he beheld Quentin's final atoning act on Realgam Tower—a father giving his life in the desperate hope of making up for his mistakes, although from the looks of it, his quiet Pokémon companion Gardevoir had been the real Vassal all along. So even then, the sacrifice had been made in vain.

Then again…Sora remembered something. Back in the Disney Universe, hadn't his connections with others, in some form or another, always been a means of helping and protecting his friends, and hadn't those connections in turn helped and protected himself? What was more…there was a key difference between the final battle in the Keyblade Graveyard and the one taking place now—something that had made the battleground more even. Sora wasn't sure how to explain it; he just felt that even now, Xehanort underestimated the power of his connections to his friends. Even if he wasn't especially strong, or quick, or magically gifted…he had been given a gift that he intended to share.

Sora closed his eyes and allowed a calm smile to pass over his face, eliciting an appropriate frown from Xehanort.

"You dare daydream now, boy? You lower your defenses at your peril!"

But Sora just stood there, and the Kingdom Key shone a brilliant gold in his hand. His heart felt like warm, liquid gold as he achieved a level of rest he hadn't attained since regaining his memories in Castle Oblivion long ago.

* * *

 **Smithy's Factory**

* * *

Mario clambered back to his feet, his overalls torn and stained with rust and ash. He looked up at the five-headed Smithy, having no idea what he was going to do.

Then a familiar voice spoke to his mind: _Mario…_

 _Sora?_ Mario thought back. Time seemed to have come to a halt.

 _Reach out, Mario. Feel our connection. And accept the help we can give each other. Together._

Mario focused on Sora's words. Soon his fingers began to tingle. Realizing his eyes had been (rather unwisely) shut, he opened them to discover the miracle occurring in his hand.

Thousands of golden sparks were converging from every direction, accumulating into a long, solid shape in Mario's grip. The golden shine faded to reveal a sword with a Super Mushroom-shaped hilt; a bright, gleaming red blade; and key teeth protruding from both edges like fiery spikes.

A Keyblade.

Mario's heart heated up as if stoked in a forge. He felt so emboldened that upon gripping his Keyblade, he inadvertently caused it to conflagrate, actual flames rippling along its edges while keeping a respectful distance from his glove and sleeve. He smiled and looked up at Smithy's hydra-like figure.

As Mario ran forward, Smithy's Magic Head cast another meteor at him, but he sliced it apart with a single swing. He deflected the Treasure Head's curse and the Tank Head's ballistic missile, then bounded forward and swung his fiery Keyblade across the center head's neck, severing it clean off like butter.

From behind Mario, Yoshi Flutter-Jumped and drove his colorful, flowery, Heart Fruit-hilted Keyblade through the fortified Mask Head, then followed up with the remaining three in quick succession, until Smithy was more or less headless.

"Smithy, you've a-failed this a-kingdom!"

Mario plunged his Keyblade into the Forger's flashing Keyhole, putting an end to Smithy's second reign over Bowser's Castle and the Mushroom Kingdom. The metal being swiftly evaporated into a flurry of hot white hearts. Yoshi landed beside Mario and nuzzled his old friend as the plumber rubbed the dinosaur's snout with a smile. They, along with Peach and Bowser, were all quite injured, but the other two staggered over with relief.

"We did it!" Yoshi said.

Bowser blew a disdainful jet of smoke through his nostrils, arms folded as he stared at the two Keyblades. "Hmph. Why don't I get one?"

* * *

 **K. Rool's Airship**

* * *

As Cyber K. Rool reformed, DK was astonished to hear a similar voice in his head. And in his broad hand appeared a Keyblade with a set of interwoven jungle vines forming the blade, the thorns serving as the key teeth, the hilt consisting of two ornate bananas of perfect, though inedible, ripeness.

Samus had a similar experience, her Keyblade almost more of an extension of her arm cannon than a sword. It was sleek and black, the cup hilt resembling a tiny Metroid, the end of the blade/gun barrel decorated with an S-shaped Screw Attack symbol. The bounty hunter had just seen a friend killed, so she didn't even question how this new weapon had been acquired. She just used it.

Several lime green energy beams spewed from her Keyblade. Unlike every other projectile, these actually dealt K. Rool significant damage, knocking him to the left and to the right and then off his feet.

DK rolled forward, jumped, brought his Keyblade up, and jammed it into the cyborg's chest, where the keyhole was flashing for the fourth time.

"You've failed this kingdom, tin head!"

Cyber K. Rool—the last vestige of Professor U. Reeka's consciousness—vanished into white hearts as expected, granting Samus and the remaining Kongs the retribution Chunky deserved.

* * *

 **The Sea of Trees**

* * *

Tornado Kirby's Keyblade was designed around a miniature Warpstar hilt, its blade composed of undulating, translucent teal bars. The puffball accordingly swung it right and left, dismembering each segment of Vaati's arms with the casualness of chopping tomatoes. Kirby kicked the Demon Prince straight in its giant eye, and as the Vassal flew backward, it was impaled on another Keyblade.

Zelda, having healed herself enough for the time being, slid her new sword out of the monster's body. And as Vaati began to break down into bright heart-shaped pieces, she examined her rather unique Keyblade with wonder.

It was, in essence, the Master Sword—just redesigned with teeth, shining as bright as its legendary original, as whole as if Ganondorf had never broken it back in Kakariko Village. The Hylian eagle crest, engraved with golden filigree, complemented the glowing Triforce along the sword's flat side. Zelda smiled with a peacefulness she hadn't felt in years.

"Vaati, you failed this kingdom," she said, turning the Master Keyblade over and marveling. "But Link…Ganondorf…together, we've all saved it."

* * *

 **Realgam Tower**

* * *

"You corrupted my father!" Red accused Gardevoir. "You made him think the Pokémon all wanted Kanto's people killed. But why?"

Gardevoir drifted up and down with deadly grace. _"Quentin was my first and only Trainer. After Oak gave me to him when I was just a Ralts, we soon became as close as a human has ever been to a Pokémon. So I gladly fought his battles; won his tournaments; secured his fame and glory in every Pokémon region we traveled to. I wanted to make him proud, show the time and work he put into my training was all worth it._

 _"But I saw the same poisonous mindset in his eyes that I see in every human's: Greed; selfishness; disregard for the suffering of Pokémon for the sake of achieving worldly prestige. Pitting the Pokémon against each other like savage, mindless beasts. You see, what Quentin did not know was that when I had been captured as a Ralts, my family had been torn apart—some imprisoned in Safari Zones; others poached; I was the only one given any chance to obtain freedom, for I knew, once in a great while, a Trainer will release his captive back into the wild. And soon after his final championship win, he did indeed release me._

 _"But as I made to leave him forever in gratitude, I realized there was a better path. Quentin held the key to overthrowing the cruel tyranny of human dominance. So I began planting ideas in Quentin's mind—introducing him to the very real nature of the Spirit Bonds so as to slowly wean him into my control. With time, his Spirit Bond became strong enough to orchestrate the uprising I had planned—at the cost of his decade-long absence, of course._

 _"Then_ you _came back into the picture, Red. I knew I could not accomplish my designs if Quentin became more attached to his family than he did to the Spirit Bond…so I began to gently push his mind toward the less forgiving members of the Pokémon world. He acted fully of his own accord…just with my quiet prodding to guide him in the proper course. Is it any wonder to you, then, that Master Xehanort chose me as his Vassal rather than him? I hope you find solace as you die knowing that your father played his role in This World's demise…perfectly."_

Gardevoir's subsequent Psywave took Lance, Agatha, and Gary out of the picture with its shimmering rainbow energy—non-lethally, but brutally. Her Psychic powers could cause an agony of the mind which would quickly drive her victims unconscious, insane, or dead. Only Red, Pikachu, and Luigi remained.

"Wha?"

Luigi gawped at the Keyblade forming in his hand: a close likeness of Mario's, but shining with emerald green flames. At the same time, Pikachu found his mouth occupied by a small Keyblade shaped like a jagged lightning bolt with a bronze Pokéball design near the hilt.

The two Smashers began dueling Gardevoir, blocking her Psybeams and Shadow Balls and retaliating with bolts of fire and lightning from their Keyblades. Red, meanwhile, stood there helplessly, feeling even more useless without the Cooper Cane—until he noticed the round object not far from his father's fallen body.

Even the two Keyblades were unable to approach the powerful Psychic Pokémon, who exuded a power not unlike Mewtwo's, but infinitely more introverted. And for some reason, that made it much worse than Mewtwo's sensitive but ultimately well-meaning aura. Luigi and Pikachu came from opposite sides, but were cast away by Gardevoir's Psychic force before they could come anywhere close. The Keyblades wouldn't make any difference if they couldn't reach their target.

Red closed his eyes and sought out the Spirit Bond which he had accessed once before—when the LOGosphere had been on the brink of destroying the Citadel above Eden Prime. He remembered what Quentin had taught him—to reach out not just to the Pokémon world as a whole, but to the most personal connections that linked him to the souls of his dearest Pokémon friends: his first Pikachu; Charizard; even Jigglypuff, as petrified as she might be.

He tried with all his might to shut out the outside world, though not shutting out the pain of losing people close to him, both Pokémon and human. For it was that same pain which helped catalyze the tingling spark of the Spirit Bond. And then, like a soothing tidal wave, his entire being was flooded with serenity, and he could feel his consciousness joining with a timelessly intelligent presence.

He tossed the Omni Ball, and as it bounced and popped open, the electric blue light caused a small being to form in the air. It was like a little alien fairy, with a soft green, teardrop-shaped head. Its big, fathomless blue eyes locked with Red's, conveying an unspoken understanding. And then it acted.

Celebi—Guardian of Time; Voice of the Forest; source of the power of the Time Flutes—caused a green haze to come over Realgam Tower, stopping time like a DVR program. But Red, Celebi, Luigi, and Pikachu seemed able to move about freely, even as the wind and the clouds and the Spearows passing overhead came to a sudden pause. And, most importantly, Gardevoir.

"Pikaaa…CHUUUUU!" Pikachu said as he and Luigi both stabbed Gardevoir's flashing keyhole simultaneously. You can guess how that translates.

Celebi caused the green haze to vanish, and time unfroze, and Gardevoir's disbelieving expression disintegrated into white hearts.

And then another miracle occurred: Red felt a Pokéball hop off his belt and release its contents, revealing the stone figure of Jigglypuff.

Celebi directed a concourse of emerald sparks to surround the Jigglypuff statue. Gradually, color began to return to her body, the iron gray becoming rosy pink, her big blue eyes resuming their natural brightness. She finished her long-delayed Electric Flyswatter swing only to inadvertently slap Luigi's face and knock him over. She looked around herself, confused but glad.

Red smiled at the elusive Legendary Pokémon. _Thank you._

Celebi nodded approvingly, its eyes glittering like stars, and Teleported out of sight.


	34. Chapter 25: Solace for the Soulless (2)

**Castle Oblivion**

* * *

Not long after Sora's introspection, the "Twelve" were all on the roof on either side of the Keyblade Wielder: Yoshi; Donkey Kong; Pikachu; Jigglypuff; Kirby; Luigi; Mario; Zelda; Samus; Ness; Fox; Jody Summer. Red, it seemed, had been left behind on Realgam Tower. Whatever injuries that had been sustained from the Vassal fights—broken ribs; stab wounds; mental pain—had been healed through the power of the Keyblades.

All the original Smashers, in fact, were Keyblade Wielders themselves. Jigglypuff's was cotton candy pink with bubbly curves along the blade. Fox's was shaped like an elongated handheld Arwing that could also be used as a gun like Samus's. Jody's was a colorful blend of cobalt and crimson, a falcon insignia emblazoned near the hilt. And Ness's was a bright, sunny yellow, its blade actually thicker toward the top so that it vaguely resembled a baseball bat, its hilt composed of a chain of yo-yos linked together in a ring.

Sora grinned at the sight of his friends' victorious return. He turned to Xehanort. "You're finished!"

For the first time, Xehanort looked irked. The flames in his eyes ramped up their intensity. "Were you not listening, boy? Your small victories are well noted, Smash Brothers…but the tiny morsels of Kingdom Hearts I entrusted to my Vassals are a mere pittance of what I've accumulated from many universes. I will admit that this latest trick of summoning your own Keyblades is of unique valor…but I have met scores of heroes as determined and united as you. I have seen the incredible powers of most unusual beings—shovel-wielding knights; purple-haired genies; chameleon-bat companions. Cloud Strife and a few of his friends even evaded the demise of Final Fantasy—escaped to the Disney Universe and established a settlement they called Radiant Garden. But it was only a matter of time before their world was corrupted into Hollow Bastion, and they fell with the rest of Disney, as has every universe I have visited. And that, Smash Brothers, is the fate which awaits your trusted ally Sora. The chase is over. The game is up. So…to ease your transition into oblivion, let us conclude our dispute in a more suitable venue."

Black keys erupted from Xehanort's Keyblade like crows, surrounding Sora and the Twelve in a thick whirlwind. Sora yelled with the others as they were carried into the air and tossed around like leaves in the wind. He expected that at any moment they would all end up in the lava lake around Bowser's Castle.

But when they were finally deposited back onto solid ground, their surroundings had changed dramatically. Instead of Bowser's Castle and Castle Oblivion and the volcanic terrain that surrounded it, they were in a dark city street. The buildings were mostly skyscrapers with strange, lopsided green windows, even a central one that somewhat resembled the ad-covered Times Tower in New York City's Times Square. The sky was a saturated midnight blue, with a glowing, heart-shaped moon providing the only source of natural light.

Visible far above the skyscrapers was a white castle not altogether unlike Castle Oblivion in its oddness—just for a different reason. Instead of erratic towers pointing in unusual directions, it looked like a strange combination of a bundle of white sticks and a section ripped out of an alabaster pipe organ, featuring huge Nobody emblems where the pipes' mouths would be.

But most disturbing about this place was the fact that Sora, the Twelve, and Xehanort were utterly alone. Everything appeared to be in good condition, many electric lights buzzing steadily, the chilly wind gusting indolently through the streets. Yet there was not a soul, or a vehicle, or any other sign of life, to be seen.

"The World that Never Was," Sora said in recognition.

Xehanort nodded solemnly. "Few things survive the annihilation of a universe. Not even the world hub of Traverse Town could withstand Disney's destruction. But Castle Oblivion, and this mythical place…these I have been able to retain. An anchor to nothingness, you might say."

"Enough chit-chat," DK said, brandishing his Keyblade. "You've stalled us with your monologuing long enough, probably 'cause there's thirteen of us and only one of you. So let's end this quickly!"

Xehanort smiled and tightened his raised fist, black magic swirling around it. "You think you outnumber me," he said. "But that is because you cannot see the big picture. If you take a closer look, you will find they that be with me are more than they that be with you."

Sora felt a surge of dread as he realized that many of the steady lights throughout the city square weren't lights at all; they were _eyes._ The eyes of zounds of Heartless. And he and the Smashers were surrounded by their endless throngs.

And as if that weren't bad enough, Xehanort's black magic bore unexpected fruits: Twelve duplicates of himself emerged from his body and spread out, all of them showcasing much younger incarnations of Xehanort, back when he actually had hair—smooth, silver hair that ran down to his shoulders and in some cases beyond.

"But…" Sora gaped at the numerous versions of his archenemy. "We defeated all your other selves back in Disney!"

The old, original Xehanort gave a hoarse laugh. "Do you not know how time works, boy? Yes, you stopped all _those_ versions of me…but I can travel to as many points in my past as I please. Fetching another dozen from various moments in my history required only the slightest of efforts. Even with Disney gone, Kingdom Hearts grants me power to perform such marvels."

"Cállate!" Kirby said with unexpected Spanish rudeness.

Xehanort glowered at them. "Very well," he said, giving his Keyblade a practice swing as all his other versions did the same. He alone possessed the black ram head one, while the rest wielded thinner, glowing turquoise Keyblades with pointed clock faces near the tips. "Let the last light of the Smash Universe be choked out!"

Sora made straight for the original Xehanort, resuming their duel regardless of the battle initiating around them. He cast fire and ice and thunder magic here and there, dodged Xehanort's ruthless swings, but found his own jabs easily blocked with disappointing metal clangs. As they fought, he caught only glimpses of the others: Jigglypuff using Rollout with her Keyblade to eliminate many Heartless at once; Fox and Samus blasting Heartless apart before they could reach them; most of the rest plenty busy fighting one or more of Xehanort's younger selves, which were nearly as skilled as their elder incarnation, each of them with the same unyielding, unquenchable topaz eyes.

As Heartless were destroyed, however, their lingering black matter threatened to overwhelm the Smashers just like they had that fateful day in the Kokiri Forest. Mario knew if they didn't act fast, the Smash Brothers would soon be back to square one: Heartless. The Dream Water they had ingested that morning couldn't last forever.

He jumped away from the Young Xehanort he was fighting and withdrew a tool he'd long left dormant—mostly because it was rarely ever of any use in battle, Smash Tournament or otherwise. It was a sort of backpack water tank with bright yellow panels and a trumpet-like nozzle. F.L.U.D.D.

Mario quickly poured the contents of his black bucket into the tank, and once he was finished, he switched the nozzle to sprinkler setting and let the Dream Water fly.

"Yahoo!"

Heartless melted back into the shadows as their black haze dissolved in the air. The Young Xehanorts kept fighting their opponents, but all of the Heartless were beaten back by the spiraling spreadshot. Soon, all who remained were drenched living beings.

"Mario!"

Luigi leapt and blocked a Keyblade with his own which had been about to chop the plumber in half. Mario did an about face as they confronted a pair of Young Xehanorts together.

"Thanks, bro!" Mario said as they prepared to duel.

"I've got you're a-back," Luigi said, smiling.

Zelda swung the Master Keyblade with even more confidence than she had the Dragon Sword, feeling as if at last she would be able to avenge Link's death. But Young Xehanort was no pushover; it required every ounce of skill she'd developed as a member of the Hylian royal family, as the pirate Captain Tetra, and even as Ganon's puppet during the days of Zant and the Twilight Realm.

None of the Smashers were making much headway, struggling to keep up with the Young Xehanorts' well-practiced sparring skills. Sora realized that if this went on much longer, he and the Twelve would be struck down one by one. They needed something more.

He jumped backward away from Xehanort and felt around his pockets. All he could find was Game & Watch's black bucket, but Dream Water would be useless against these clones. Then he noticed a faint, colorful glow flickering from inside the bucket. His face brightened. That wasn't Dream Water; it was…

Sora raised the shining Smash Ball over his head, the swirling, morphing colors within shining like a glass kaleidoscope. He didn't know how it got into his bucket since the only other known Smash Ball had been used by Master Hand, but he'd heard enough to know what to do with it. He crushed it in his hands.

"What?" Xehanort's eyebrow arched in mild surprise.

Sora had no idea what his Final Smash would be. He just stood and marveled as multicolored light flashed from the Smash Ball, soaking into the bodies of the Twelve and illuminating them all with glorious golden rays.

The Young Xehanorts hesitated as the Smashers felt power rushing through their veins, filling their hearts and minds and bodies with untold energy. Mario, eyes glowing yellow like the rest, glanced at his companions and nodded.

"Let's a-go!"

Together, the Twelve unleashed their Final Smashes. It seemed that Sora's own Final Smash was to share his power with his allies—with the hearts he was connected to.

Mario put one foot forward and generated his fiery blast known as the Mario Finale. Luigi created his color-inverting Negative Zone, which slowed all the Young Xehanorts down in their reactions. Yoshi transformed into his winged Super Dragon form and began belching large fireballs. DK produced his bongos and pounded out a Konga Beat, sending shimmering waves of rhythmic energy. Pikachu executed an especially potent Volt Tackle, charging into the Young Xehanorts as a crackling blue sphere. Jigglypuff's Puff Up swelled far beyond what she had done during the Smash Planet Grand Prix in Little Big City, severely limiting the Xehanorts' possible escape routes. Kirby produced his massive Ultra Sword and swung it like Deathborn had swung the streetlight in Onett. Zelda notched a Light Arrow and let it fly, spearing several Xehanorts at once. Samus took a sturdy step back to charge and then discharge her thick blue-white Zero Laser. Ness took a page from Poo's book and summoned a blinding PK Starstorm. Fox jumped into a Landmaster which spontaneously, nonsensically dropped from the sky and began firing its laser cannon. And Jody Summer hopped into the equally spontaneous Blue Falcon of her fallen brother, and floored the accelerator toward the grouped enemies.

For what seemed like hours, but was in fact just a minute or two, the World that Never Was lit up with this cacophonous cornucopia of attacks, enveloping Xehanort and all his younger selves. Sora watched with wide eyes; the Smash Ball had worked out better than he could have hoped.

Finally, the lasers and fiery blasts and Negative Zone transformations and other effects wore off, leaving a smoking black ring in the center of the city square. The smoke cleared to reveal the combined Final Smashes' aftermath.

The good news was that all of the Young Xehanorts were gone, as if they had never existed. Whether they had been incinerated or torn apart or destroyed in some other way, they were no more.

The bad news was that the original Xehanort remained, and he looked like he hadn't been touched by so much as a single spark. His hands were behind his back, his Keyblade no longer in hand, and he regarded them gravely.

"I should have known the Hand of Fate would find some way to get involved," he said, glaring at Sora. "Placing that Smash Ball in your possession…it seems to have your best interests in mind, or at least your survival." His expression brightened, to everyone else's discomfort. "Fortunately, I do not need to kill you this night; the Great Convergence will take care of that for me. I need only show you, heroes, who you _truly_ are. For I am not your greatest enemy; that distinction belongs to yourselves."

Arching over Xehanort's head, thirteen black hearts appeared. The old man seemed unable to contain his pleasure any longer and began laughing—a slow, wheezing laugh which in almost any other context would have been comical. But as the black hearts spread out and shot forward, shoving themselves into the chest of each hero, Xehanort's elderly laughter seemed anything but amusing.

"Mama-mía!" Mario had no time to react before the black heart pushed inside him. Immediately he felt a dreadful cold, which vibrated like a time bomb and spread like a sinister gel through the rest of his body—his arms and legs; his fingers and toes; and finally his neck and his head. His eyes darkened as he suddenly saw how utterly foolish their quest was.

"No!" Sora tried to escape the black heart chasing him, but it easily caught up and made for his chest—and then bounced off, like the most bizarre heart transplant rejection of all time. Sora watched in amazement as the black heart melted like an abused marshmallow and dripped to the ground in an oily puddle.

"Huh?"

He looked around and was dismayed to find that no one else had had such luck. The twelve Smash Brothers who had become his close friends…were now Heartless once again.

They arranged themselves in a semicircle around Sora, Xehanort in the middle. The Third Brother smiled and pointed at the Keyblade Wielder.

"Kill him."

Sora couldn't believe this was happening. How had the tables been turned so quickly? But he had no time to think; just to react.

He Flowmotioned out of the way of Pikachu's Headbutt and Luigi's Green Missile, then somersaulted to avoid being caught on Ness's yo-yo. He yelled in pain as Fox's blaster caught him in the shoulder, but managed to block Samus's charge shot with the Kingdom Key.

Suddenly, Sora choked as DK grabbed him from behind in a death grip, squeezing him with his hairy arm so that in a matter of seconds, the boy's head would probably pop off like a soda cap. Sora cast a Thunder spell that struck the Kong in the head and forced him to relinquish his grip.

Sora soon found himself dueling with his Keyblade against Mario's Super Hammer, almost having his head or chest or foot smashed like a peanut with each swing. He cast a Freeze spell at the plumber's legs, causing Mario to trip over, and hopped over him in an attempt to get closer to Xehanort's still, bemused figure.

He cried out as an egg exploded against his head from the side, sending him to the ground. Looking up, he beheld the dreaded, rapidly falling figure of Kirby in the form of a spiked ball, dropping toward his head. He rolled to the side and caused fire to spew from his Keyblade and blast the puffball away.

Now only Zelda stood in his way, brandishing the Dragon Sword. Sora yelled and ran toward her, and she did the same, as if they were about to joust on their feet. But at the last moment, Sora employed a little strategic cowardice and used the tip of his Keyblade as a springboard to pole vault over the Hylian princess and land in front of Xehanort, far too out of breath to speak coherently.

"I'm…gonna…"

Xehanort just narrowed his eyes and smiled. He caused another torrent of black keys to rush forward and propel Sora away, back to the center of the corrupted Smashers. Once they had reached their destination, the black keys continued to flutter in midair like metal hornets, securing him in place.

The Smashers parted as Xehanort sauntered up to his quarry. His eyes blazed with dark triumph as he summoned his black Keyblade back into his hand.

"You know," he said, "that look in your eye…the defiance…the poorly concealed fear…it is the same look I saw in the eyes of Kid Icarus shortly before he died at my hand in this very manner."

Sora's heart fell another octave. Pit was dead too. Not that that mattered, seeing as this battle was just about over. Xehanort had won.

"You talk of judgment," Sora grunted, "but all you really do is murder good people. They might not all be innocent, but you're the last one who deserves to deal out punishments. You should suffer most of all!"

Xehanort didn't look offended. He was drinking it all in. "Any last words, Keyblade Wielder?"

Sora's eyes were hot and wet now. He had failed yet another universe. At least this time, he would be gone for good and wouldn't be around to be responsible for the erasing of any more worlds. Maybe it was for the best.

He hung his head in defeat—and found himself staring at a star-shaped cluster of shells hanging around his neck, smiling up at him. Kairi's Lucky Charm. Suddenly, Riku's words came to mind.

 _Xehanort wanted to discourage you, to make you think you're the one to blame for what happened to Disney. But it was a lie…_

He couldn't give up now. It wasn't his fault Disney was gone; it was Xehanort's. But Sora was trapped. All his friends were turned against him. How could he stop his archenemy now?

He looked out at each Smash Brother in turn. Zelda, with the Triforce of Power taking full control over her wicked features. Yoshi, his idleness nearly causing him to fall asleep in this most desperate of moments. DK, his pupils shrunken to his savage primal state. Pikachu with a similarly animalic expression. Kirby, a depthless hunger dominating whatever kindness was buried underneath. Mario, his arrogance and need for conflict flaring in his eyes. Luigi, a black mask across his eyes for some reason, his whole outfit changed to mostly black with even the "L" on his green hat flipped around to signify his surrender to his bottled-up envy of his brother's fame. (This version of Luigi was known as Mr. L, although L.O.G.'s Memory Paradoxes would have made it impossible for either Sora or Luigi himself to recall the events behind it.) Samus, carrying herself with an almost robotic professionality as she witnessed what was to her just another bounty. Ness, the pain of countless bullying sessions etched on his loveless face. Fox, appearing disappointed that no one was filming him or making him the center of attention. Jody Summer, her body as rigid as her strict Federation laws. And Jigglypuff, swelling with an elephant-sized ego.

Then Sora had an idea.

"Here are my last words," Sora said, as if he were addressing only Xehanort. Then he glanced over at the pink Pokémon. "Jigglypuff, I'll bet your singing is horrible!"

Xehanort watched him quizzically, but by the time he figured out what Sora was up to, it was too late. Jigglypuff, face red, eyes crinkly with incensed rage, drew out a microphone and belted her loudest solo.

"JIIII-GGA-LYYYY-PUUUUUFF, JI-GAAA-LYY-Y-YY-PUUUUFF!"

Almost instantly, the other eleven Smashers dropped to the ground, fast asleep. Sora and Xehanort, for whatever reason, hadn't been affected, but the latter was too bewildered to react before Jigglypuff puffed herself forward to deliver her first punishment.

"Puff!"

The hard slap inadvertently knocked Sora away from the black keys, freeing him of their cloud-like grip. Jigglypuff then proceeded to bounce from one sleeping Smasher to another, joyfully drawing goofy designs on their faces with a black marker. At length, she finished her artwork, and fell into a deep sleep herself.

Xehanort yelled in genuine anger. He raised his Keyblade and brought it toward Sora just as the boy was getting to his feet.

Sora blocked it with the Kingdom Key and locked his narrowed eyes on Xehanort.

"You only prolong the inevitable, boy," Xehanort growled. "There is nothing in your heart or any other that I cannot exploit—nothing that can stand against the Kingdom Hearts of countless universes! What is one weak heart against thousands of strong ones?"

Sora had a strange feeling that it was time to do something else unorthodox. "Not one heart," he said. "Two."

"What?"

Sora jumped away, and without hesitation, stabbed himself with his own Keyblade.

He had done this once before, in Hollow Bastion when Kairi's heart had been locked away inside her. To bring her back, Sora had unlocked his own heart and let Kairi used its strength to recover her own. Consequently, Sora had become a Heartless, but had soon been restored back to his old self. And there had been another important consequence: In splitting his Heartless away from his body, Sora's Nobody had been created—Roxas.

This time was a bit different. As Sora fell to the ground, he had barely touched the paved surface when his body seemed to split into two bodies, the second one rising straight back up and morphing into an altogether different person. He had short, spiky blond hair, Sora's exact eyes, and was dressed in the traditional black robes of the original Organization XIII, dual Keyblades in his hands. One was of a jagged black design, the other like a feathered rainbow with steel gray edges.

Xehanort gaped as Sora stood back up beside his Nobody, Kingdom Key in hand. "Roxas? How is this possible? You were erased! And Sora…you should be a Heartless!"

"Long time no see, Sora." Roxas winked at him, his voice the uncanny likeness of Jesse McCartney's.

Sora smiled and nodded at him, then turned back to Xehanort. "The Kingdom Hearts don't only help _you_ Xehanort; thanks to the hearts I've bonded with, I feel strong enough to resist the pull of the Heartless in whatever form you throw them at me. And as for Roxas…well, according to Zelda, Ganondorf said that strangers to the Smash Universe can travel freely between worlds. When your Heartless Ansem and your Nobody Xemnas were destroyed, you returned in your original form. So when _my_ Nobody and Heartless were both destroyed in Disney while I still lived, I guess This World's Kingdom Hearts gave me the ability to bring my Nobody back."

Roxas, in spite of everything, chuckled. "That's profoundly confusing."

Sora shrugged. "That's Kingdom Hearts. So, Xehanort…let's see if _your_ heart is strong enough!"

They attacked Xehanort from both sides. Xehanort whirled around and sent torrents of black keys at each of them. Sora used Freeze to stop his aggressors in their tracks, then came at Xehanort again with full force, clashing Keyblades. Meanwhile, Roxas Flowmotioned out of the flying keys' reach and slashed at Xehanort's back, then jumped out of the way and caused the keys to inadvertently stab Xehanort like so many Brutuses into Julius Caesar.

Xehanort yelled with rage as he teleported away, his back injured, though not as severely as his opponents might have hoped. He raised his Keyblade with both hands, summoning a thick bolt of black lightning from the sky and pointing it at Sora, who gasped. This was how Xehanort had won last time.

The lightning split into two bolts directed at both Sora and Roxas. But before they reached their targets, two metal figures jumped in the way, conducting the unnatural electricity like lightning rods.

Metal Mario and Metal Mr. Game & Watch.

Sora felt jubilant, and would have expected to see a discouraged and further enraged Xehanort with the arrival of two more allies. But to his surprise, Xehanort's conflagrated eyes burned with vigor as they fixed on each newcomer.

"Ah," he said. "I should have known you two would eventually come out of the woodwork. Which can only mean…"

A dark silhouette behind Xehanort dropped from the sky, clearly with the intent of crushing him. But without even looking, Xehanort thrust his Keyblade upward, stabbing into Master Hand's ambushing palm. A pulse of black energy discharged from the Keyblade, blasting the Hand off its tip and onto the ground beside the others.

"Yes!" Xehanort croaked triumphantly. "And now…now at last I shall escape these godforsaken worlds and seek retribution on those who imprisoned me and my brothers here!"

Master Hand was not dead, but he appeared less than well as he rose shakily back into the air. His message was short, nonverbal, and forceful.

 _"You will_ never _return."_

"Oh no?" Xehanort raised his Keyblade again. More black hearts appeared—except this time, they didn't stop at twelve. Hundreds—thousands—of these soulless symbols shone in the dark night with an odd blacklight effect, spiraling from above and below and encasing Xehanort in a throbbing black cocoon.

Sora was astonished by all the strange newcomers that had arrived—Roxas; Metal Mario and Game & Watch; Master Hand—but there was no time for questions. He just clenched the Kingdom Key tightly as the onyx cocoon grew larger, and larger, and showed no sign of stopping until it was about the size of Luigi's Mansion. Once they had stopped growing, the black hearts soaked into Xehanort's new, monstrous form.

To start off with, the Heartless Hands were back. And not just two of them, but six on one side, seven on the other. The body consisted of one titanic black heart, within which all the other black hearts writhed and throbbed like crazed ants. And the head…the head resembled a colossal demonic ram, its curling horns the same scalding orange of its eyes.

 _"The blackest pitch of every heart,"_ it boomed, _"sates its own emptiness on the living marrow of healthy souls. That is my purpose in This World—to undermine everything my former colleagues have designed here, to render their works as corrupt as life itself. YOUR HEARTS…ARE MINE."_

The Heartless Hands lashed out, pressing Master Hand, Metal Mario, Metal Game & Watch, Roxas, and Sora to the ground. Sora screamed in agony, crushed in such a way that he could see Xehanort's soul leering down at him in all its true ugliness.

 _"And_ your _heart, Sora…so full of light…so full of love and hope and the Unspeakable Quality…it will taste the most savory of all."_

The Heartless Hand that had flattened him curled its shadowy fingers around his body and raised him up to meet the demonic ram head. And moved toward its mouth.

Time slowed to a crawl as Sora faced his final moments. His mind raced with confused thoughts: What was he supposed to do? No power could stand up to the Kingdom Hearts of countless universes! Why was he the one chosen to be here?

Kairi's words came back to him.

 _"The answer's inside you, Sora…"_

 _"You have a heart unlike any other…"_

Memories flashed through Sora's mind: bringing each of the Vassals to their end, some with more regret than others; discovering new friends, and making new friends of old enemies, like Axel and Wolf O'Donnell; standing on the shores of the Destiny Islands in a surreal dream state with Ansem the Wise, who was disguised as DiZ and considering the horizon. Something Ansem had said…

 _"You are willing to see the good in others before the bad…"_

He wasn't just special because of all the hearts he was connected to. He was unique in being able to open his heart to those he _wasn't_ connected to, without any thought for self-preservation or other ulterior motives. Others could open their hearts too, certainly; but there was always an impurity in the acceptance of a reformed enemy. And now he knew the one thing he lacked in order to access his heart's full power.

"XEHANORT, I FORGIVE YOU!"

The Heartless Hand paused, and Xehanort's raging topaz eyes all but scorched him.

 _"What?"_

"I forgive you," Sora continued, "for everything you've done. I know you don't care; I know you don't deserve it; I know it makes no difference to a heart that's already snuffed out its own light. But it makes a difference to _mine_. So…I forgive you. You'll still kill me, but at least my heart will be free."

For a long moment, Sora was sure the Heartless Hand would pop him into the demon ram's mouth like a distasteful medication. But then something extraordinary happened.

Columns of light burst from Xehanort's giant eyes as he uttered a hellish roar. Similar pillars penetrated each of the scarlet heart shapes on the Hands' palms. The light increased to a blinding brightness—which was then exceeded by what Sora had taken for a heart-shaped moon. It descended like a tiny angelic sun and sank into the center of Xehanort's head, eliciting a still louder scream. The same Kingdom Hearts that had so long fueled Xehanort's power turned on him, and administered the True Death he had so bitterly inflicted on others.

But before Sora's mind was fully overwhelmed by this godly power and he lost consciousness, he made out a single line of coherent speech amidst Xehanort's dying wails.

 _"On the morrow, the End will come!"_

And then all was white.


	35. Chapter 26: This World

" _The only trophy worth winning is the one we forge in our hearts—knowing we have become all we were created to be."_

 _ **~Meta Knight**_

* * *

Chapter 26: This World

* * *

 **? ? ? ? ? ? ?**

* * *

 ** _M_** ario awoke to pure whiteness. His head throbbed with pain as he tried to recall what had just transpired: They had been fighting Xehanort in The World that Never Was; Sora's Final Smash had enabled them to defeat the Young Xehanorts; and then those black hearts appeared, and one shot into him, and everything was hazy after that.

He wasn't even lying down; he was on his feet, and the first shape to emerge through the whiteness was a familiar shape loaded with all kinds of emotional baggage, good and bad.

Master Hand.

On either side of Master Hand's ever-imposing, ever-mysterious figure were Metal Mario and Metal Mr. Game & Watch. All of them, of course, were incapable of expressing facial emotion, and yet at this time in which Mario ought to have felt puzzled and uncertain about everything, he somehow felt a single, clear emotion.

Fear.

But not a fear of the beings before him; rather, a fear of the future, of some indescribably horrible thing that would soon take place.

Then he noticed he was far from alone. On one side were Luigi, Yoshi, DK, Ness, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff; on the other, Sora, Zelda, Samus, Jody, Fox, and Kirby.

All of their eyes were fixed on the three familiar strangers, as were Mario's. Waiting for whatever happened next in their strange story.

As before, Master Hand's voice speaking to their minds was deep and resonant, but oddly staticky. _"Smash Brothers…once again, you have risen to This World's call for help. Still, one problem yet remains. And in order for you to succeed, there can be no further delay: It is time for us to tell you everything."_

"Who…are a-you?" Mario said.

Though also nonverbal, the next voice seemed to come from Metal Mario. A different voice, but similarly staticky.

 _"A complicated question. But let us start with this: Obviously, we are not the Master Hand or Metal Characters you once knew. We are not gods, but members of the team to which the one you called Xehanort, and his brothers, once belonged. Some might choose to call us the 'Hand of Fate'…but that is only a placeholder to fill a lack of understanding, a name that implies an omnipotence far beyond our actual powers._

 _"We are mortal men from another Earth—scientists who chanced upon This World in the course of our work. Our human bodies do not appear in their natural form here; in fact, we have learned to control the way we manifest ourselves, which in some way must inhabit a preexisting member of the races and entities of the Smash Universe. We took upon ourselves the avatars you see before you because we had to remain on the fringes of This World—to be able to operate within it without being missed or pursued."_

 _"Also, we figured these forms would get your attention,"_ Metal Mr. Game  & Watch added.

"Wait…" Ness furrowed his brow. "L.O.G. told us we were all part of a virtual game world created by him and his team. So…aren't you some kind of game developers who created all of us to entertain some other dimension of children?"

 _"Yes and no,"_ Metal Mario said. _"We_ are _game developers as well…but the Smash Universe is no virtual world. You are all as real as us. L.O.G. was either lying to you, or was perhaps so absorbed and warped by his exile here that he came to believe such a thing himself, as did Nightmare."_

Sora and the Smashers all looked like they now had more questions than they had begun with, but Master Hand seemed to take note of it.

 _"In order to give you the big picture, let us start from the beginning. Our studies have provided us a comprehensive view of how This World came to be, and it is this understanding we wish to equip you with."_

Suddenly, the whiteness around them faded into colorful images, surrounding them all like some kind of organic OMNIMAX theater. It was an almost overwhelming collage of different scenes, showing a sublime diversity of worlds. Here were the Donut Plains of the Mushroom Kingdom; there, Hyrule Castle Town; King Dedede's castle; Saffron City; the Kong family treehouse; the Akaneian wilderness; Mute City; the Icicle Mountains; Onett; Zebes; Corneria; Skyworld; Planet Bomber; Game & Watch's black, two-dimensional house; Mobius; Shadow Moses Island; Veldin; the Wasteland; Kaine Island; Strangereal; Megaland; the Dragon Realm; the Glade of Dreams; the Tasmanian Islands; Craftworld; the Destiny Islands; Reach; Helios; Eden Prime; Sera; Pandora; Vigoor; the Enchanted Kingdom; the Carrington Institute; the Willow Woods; Rapture; the Isle o' Hags; Timber's Island; the black Atari realm; and many others that none of the heroes recognized. Each scene was not just a still picture, but showed tree branches waving in the breeze, ocean waves lapping on shores, stars glittering in the skies, urban lights flashing, people walking and driving and flying according to the world's technology.

 _"In the beginning, your worlds were all separate—not just with geographical borders, but completely segregated by dimensional boundaries. The actual method by which your individual worlds came to be is beyond even our knowledge. But we do know that each functioned within its sphere, with its own regions, and residents, and heroes, and villains. There was a balance of good and evil within every world independent of any other, and for many ages, this was how the worlds remained._

As Master Hand continued with the story, the scenes changed to reflect the events being described.

 _"On our Earth, our original team—there were seven of us—was experimenting with quantum science that we admittedly did not well understand. One day, we inadvertently created a rift in the dimensional fabric—a portal, you might say—and we were all transported into another realm: the Mushroom Kingdom._

 _"To say were amazed by what we found would be a gross understatement. Everything we saw—the colorful land; the unique physics; the remarkable life forms; it was far beyond anything we could have ever imagined. We were careful to only observe and to avoid getting involved or interacting with this new world wherever possible, for we did not know what effects our presence might have. How foolish we were even then._

 _"After that first discovery, we took it upon ourselves to make additional excursions, visiting Hyrule and Kanto and Dreamland and every other world the Smash Brothers are familiar with. Little did we know that we were being watched—by some of the greatest evils of these lands._

 _"Inspired by your worlds, we developed video games on our Earth fashioned after the legends of Nintendo, and Sony, and Microsoft, and Atari, and all the rest._

 _"One fateful day, as we were returning through our portal, there was a terrible malfunction, and one of our number was lost to us forever. That day, we determined never to return, never to risk the lives of our team or of the worlds we visited for the mere sake of science._

 _"But three of us—the Three Brothers—soon had second thoughts. They wanted to go back and complete their work, in spite of their lost colleague, in spite of the unspeakable disasters that might ensue from our meddling. There was…a dispute, and they were forbidden to return to the portal. But that night, they passed through it all the same, only this time our machine collapsed on itself and was destroyed, severing our connection from them._

 _"For years, we struggled to recreate the machine so we could find our colleagues and prevent them from causing further harm. But we have learned that in the meantime, those evil forces in each world that had been watching us had become determined to find a way between worlds for themselves. They built up armies, and navies, and powerful magics and weapons, and as best we can tell, they discovered or created dimensional rifts of their own, and traveled between them and waged terrible wars upon each other._

 _"And so, it seems that the more these dimensional boundaries were crossed, the more the worlds fought, the thinner the dimensional fabric grew. Eventually, all became one massive, chaotic battle, and in many cases, the dimensional fabric faded entirely. Thus, an Armageddon had fallen upon This World—and it all began with our naïve interference with the natural order. Some worlds were totally devastated and forever lost. Others had regions cleaved from their world and attached to others, such as Fourside City. Still others found themselves pulled by multiple universes at once, as were the Destiny Islands, or horribly distorted, as were the fragments of the Dimension Conflux. Total annihilation would have been the result—until the Great Divergence._

 _"As far as we have been able to gather, the Three Brothers stepped in to prevent the final destruction of all these worlds. Nightmare had developed the power to summon vast legions of creatures to instill fear in those who sought to besiege other worlds. Thus, the crossing of boundaries ceased. L.O.G. had gained the ability to perform a comprehensive Mind Sweep, erasing memories of these wars from everyone's minds so that they would not seek retribution upon each other. And Xehanort had progressed so much in his powers that he could fill every heart with a love of their own land, making it even less likely that such breaches would reoccur, even though the dimensional fabric had worn away."_

"The Three Brothers…helped us?" Sora said incredulously.

 _"Yes,"_ Metal Game  & Watch said. _"You must remember that they were not always as you knew them. They did not wish to be erased from existence any more than you. Once the Smash Universe had been welded together, they each lost their way for different reasons. They came to blame us for what had happened to them. But the reality is that they exiled themselves. We did not approve of their twisted plans for altering This World to cause villains to triumph, or to introduce unnatural elements between worlds like Stop n' Swop, or to bring the worst in every heart to the forefront, but the solution was certainly not to ostracize them in the very place they wished to control."_

"So because of all this," DK said, "our worlds are all combined. And you found a way back here to fix everything? Why couldn't you have just told us all this years ago, back when Nightmare was around, and helped us end it all then?"

 _"It is true we were able to recreate the portal to This World after many years,"_ Metal Mario said. _"But with a severe limitation. This portal would allow no more individuals to exit back through than those who entered. If any of the Brothers were to find us and force us to take them to our portal, they would have escaped through and left us here, and wrought unthinkable horror on our Earth with the powers they had gained. Indeed, Xehanort has already inflicted untold permanent damage, corrupting the hearts of many universes before they, too, Converged and were erased from existence."_

"So what exactly have you been doing here, then?" Fox asked.

 _"We have made subtle adjustments and gentle prods over the years to ensure the worst did not befall This World,"_ Master Hand said. _"But we felt it unwise to openly involve ourselves wherever possible. This is_ your _universe, after all, and we never had any business here in the first place; we feared if we became too involved, in addition to being discovered by the Brothers, we would cause even more dire consequences to the natural order. But we_ have _stepped in from time to time: sending Kirby a Warpstar to face Nightmare's final form; putting an end to Professor U. Reeka and his Deconstructor; foiling the otherwise inescapable omniscience of the Mystic; planting Heart Softeners in key locations to key individuals; and now, aiding you in Xehanort's demise. Not because we are all-powerful; we are not. We just have a broader view of things that has given us certain advantages."_

"Pi-Pika!" Pikachu said, meaning, "You say you want to help us…but you killed Red's first Pokémon! Why?"

 _"We foresaw the trials Red would have to face, knowing that one day he would have to confront his father and use the Omni Ball. Think of this: Would Red have been able to form the Spirit Bond necessary to connect with Pokémon as powerful as Mew or Celebi had he not had the strongest of emotions toward Pokémon to link his spirit with theirs? The loss of his Charizard was tragic…but the loss of Pikachu left Red broken enough that his heart could be mended into the strongest of Spirit Bonds. Otherwise, we knew Quentin would bring about This World's downfall one way or another—and, as it so happened, it was also key in L.O.G.'s defeat."_

Neither Pikachu nor Jigglypuff felt entirely satisfied with this answer. But at least they knew there was a reason for their friend's death, and there was nothing they could do about it now.

 _"Sora,"_ Metal Mario said. _"Do you understand how you defeated Xehanort?"_

Sora blinked. "Um…sort of; not really. I mean, my heart told me what to say, and it told me to forgive him, and I guess that did something. But I was fully expecting to die."

 _"And that was the key: forgiving your greatest enemy without any ulterior motive. It is a quality Ansem the Wise saw in you and one many other heroes have approached, but have never quite attained._ _That is why no other universe was able to stop Xehanort. Every world's heroes are altruistic to a point, but they all see their existence as one of dualities: good and evil; light and darkness; right and wrong. That is what stopped them—and for a time, what stopped you—from purging one's own heart. We cannot access Kingdom Hearts in its purest form unless we let go of the need to see ourselves as heroes, and others as villains. Instead, we must see even the vilest of men as people. Not simply to survive, but because that is the secret to unlocking the heart: to see others as they really are."_

Sora just nodded. He wouldn't have been able to put all that into words, but it felt right, like something he had known all along but hadn't known how to express.

 _"Now we come to the task left before you, Smash Brothers,"_ Master Hand said. _"Unfortunately, there is a vital truth about Xehanort that you do not know: He is_ not _the cause of the Great Convergences that wipe out the universes."_

"What?" Sora said. "Then who is?"

 _"Not 'who,'"_ Metal Game  & Watch said, _"but 'what.' Even in This World's combined state, there is a force, a glue, which binds the various worlds together and keeps them from falling apart and completely disintegrating. It is a force whose friction has fueled both good and evil throughout all of time, a force that was the hallmark of the Smash Brothers since it was founded. Can you guess what it is?"_

Somehow, to Yoshi, the answer was clear. "Fighting. The Smash Brothers…we formed to fight the battles others couldn't fight for themselves."

 _"Yes. In This World, you have always fought—whether against local villains, or broader threats, or each other through Smash Tournaments. That is, until you triumphed over Nightmare and L.O.G., and the fighting more or less came to an end. When you established peace within Nintendo and then throughout Smash Planet, this had an unintended consequence: The force holding This World together began to unravel. And now, it is about to break permanently, and all the worlds will collapse in on themselves and be no more._ This _is the Great Convergence."_

"Wait," Samus said. "So Xehanort just went around claiming to 'judge' universes before they were destroyed by natural causes? What's the point of that? And how do we stop it from happening to us?"

 _"Crudely put,"_ Master Hand said, _"but yes. Xehanort, like his brothers, became somewhat mentally unhinged, made unstable by his existence out of his own universe, his unclear sense of purpose. In his case, he set himself on proving each universe was corrupt enough to deserve what it got. But here is the problem: the Great Convergence. You cannot stop it. It is inevitable. Tomorrow, the Smash Universe will be destroyed."_

That was a sobering thought. "There must be something we can do," Zelda said.

 _"There is…perhaps. Deep within the Smash Universe there is a black hole, which regulates the orbits and movements of the stars and planets. At the center of that black hole is the Heart of This World—Kingdom Hearts. Unlock the power of the Heart of This World, and you will be able to harness it to preserve the hearts of the Smash Universe and all who reside within it. The Great Convergence will still culminate either way; you will experience a mortal death. But from the research our team has conducted, it is possible that Kingdom Hearts can, for the most part, restore everything to as it was at first—before not only the Convergence, but the Divergence. Like a giant Reset Button."_

"Hold it," Jody said. "So what you're saying is if we unlock the Heart of This World, we'll all be separated back into our own worlds, and it'll be as if none of this ever happened? Not even the people who've died?"

 _"Not quite. For example, even Kingdom Hearts cannot recover someone past the rare True Death. Furthermore, whatever changes your hearts have undergone should remain in place. But otherwise, it will be as if we never entered This World in the first place. And we cannot say for sure…but yes. Those who have died since the Divergence may very well return."_

Sparks of hope lit in every Smasher's eyes. They could bring their loved ones back if this all played out right. Still, one term bothered Sora in particular.

"What do you mean by True Death? I've heard that term used before."

 _"True Death,"_ Metal Mario said, _"is the fate of those universes which have Converged without their Kingdom Hearts fully unlocked. It is as Xehanort and the Mystic described—an utter erasure of matter and memory, never to return. Ganondorf's inner demon, Demise, and The Three Brothers have now all experienced it, and This World soon will…unless you stop it. We, as strangers to the Smash Universe, cannot perform this feat for you; only worthy natives of This World may approach its Heart and survive. That is why Xehanort harvested the Kingdom Hearts from the individual realms, but not the collective ones of the universes. So this is your task: Find the Heart. Unlock its power. Save your universe. Right our wrongs."_

"Puff," Jigglypuff said, frowning. Her skeptical comment translated roughly as, "This still sounds too easy. What's the catch?"

Even Master Hand and the Metal Characters hesitated to respond. Finally, Metal Game & Watch spoke.

 _"Even if you get into the black hole alive, the Heart will only yield to a hero who has friends on the other side—ones who are Truly Dead, whose essences come to meet the hero at the Heart and thus penetrate the lock. And that hero, though they will save the rest of This World…will experience True Death themselves."_

"Sacrifice," Kirby said with subdued awe.

There was a long moment of silence. All of them wanted This World to be saved…but who among them would ever volunteer their own soul in exchange for the world's? And who among them even had Truly Dead allies that would be able to meet them at the Heart?

"It's gotta be me."

The Smashers all looked in shock at the speaker: Sora.

"There's a-got to be another way!" Luigi said.

Sora shook his head grimly. "Think about it, guys. Who else has friends that are Truly Dead? Just me. As much as I've grown to care about you all, I have much less left to lose in this than you do." He looked around him, then at Master Hand. "Speaking of which…where's Roxas?"

 _"Your Nobody merged with you again once his task was complete,"_ Master Hand said. _"And it would not be wise to try and summon him again; if either of you were to try to unlock the Heart while apart, the attempt would likely fail. The Heart requires your full person—good, bad, and in-between."_

Sora sighed. That would have been the only other option—to have Roxas unlock the Heart instead of him, and then maybe Sora could have brought Roxas back through the unpredictable Heartless-Nobody-Host dynamics. But it was not to be. He fixed his eyes on Mario.

"It's the only way."

Mario shared eye contact with him for several intense seconds, hoping Sora would back down and retract his offer. But he didn't. Finally, Mario nodded with heavy resignation. He turned to Master Hand, Metal Mario, and Metal Game & Watch.

"Is it time to go a-back?"

 _"Are you_ ready _to go back?"_ Metal Game  & Watch asked.

Mario turned to the Smashers for feedback.

"We're ready if you are, Jumpman," DK said, giving him the thumbs-up.

 _"Very well,"_ Metal Mario said. _"We cannot take you directly into the black hole for…obvious reasons. But we will leave you with the one person who possesses the knowledge to get you there safely."_

They all began to fade back into the whiteness as Master Hand spoke his final words.

 _"Remember, Smash Brothers—time is almost out. We have helped all we can. No apologies or restitutions on our part can ever make up for the ails we have brought upon your lives, but if you can find it within your hearts to forgive us, it would make a very literal world of difference. Now it's all up to you. Good luck, and may your heart be your guiding key."_

Then they were gone.


	36. Chapter 27: The Fourth Voice (1)

" _Their hurt will be mended_

 _When you return to end it."_

 _ **~Naminé**_

* * *

Chapter 27: The Fourth Voice

* * *

 **Realgam Tower**

 **Orre Region**

* * *

 ** _R_** ed hadn't moved from his fallen father's side since the battle the day before. After Pikachu, Jigglypuff, and Luigi left, the boy had wept on his knees for hours knowing that there was nothing else he could do for This World. Their future was in the hands of the Twelve now. Then he had fainted or fallen asleep from emotional and physical exhaustion.

When he awoke, the scarlet sky was crackling with black lightning, the wind howling around the tower as if in prelude to some unimaginably huge hurricane. He sat up and looked around at the largely empty arena. Besides Quentin's body, there was only one other figure remaining.

"Red," Gary said, limping over to him, wincing from the injuries inflicted by the Unown. He too had been unconscious through the night. "You okay, cuz?"

"Yeah." Red looked over at the edge from which his sister had fallen, but he had no desire to peer down at April's distant body again. "I think the others left to face Xehanort. Mewtwo probably took Lance and Agatha with him since Gardevoir hurt them pretty badly. So we're kinda stuck here."

"Should we go down and find Wes or something?"

Red shook his head. "If there was more we could do, Mewtwo would've come back for us by now. And I have a feeling This World doesn't have much time left."

Gary grinned. "So we might as well stay up here where we've got a good view of the end of the world. You got it."

He sat next to Red and they watched the skies together, caught between the grief of what they had lost and the dark premonition that soon there would be nothing left to lose.

Red thought of his dear Pokémon and fellow Smashers, of the seemingly insurmountable odds they would have to overcome.

 _I believe in you all,_ he thought.

* * *

 **Candy Chateau**

 **Sony World**

* * *

Solid Snake and the other surviving All-Stars were gathered at the crumbly toffee precipice of Candy Chateau, where they had had an unpleasant encounter with Master Chief once upon a time. But this time, the cause of distress had nothing to do with Microsoft, and had everything to do with the unnaturally red sky and the jagged black lightning bolts, each of which closely preceded soul-shaking peals of thunder. They all had a feeling that the Great Convergence was at hand.

"Whoa!" Crash Bandicoot jumped out of the way as a bolt struck the cliff, carving a chunk out of the chocolate-frosted toffee and causing it to tumble into the milky white waters below.

Sonic sped over to the FOXHOUND soldier with a worried expression. "Hey, you sure we shouldn't try and help the Smash Brothers out? This looks like it's gonna get real nasty."

Snake shook his head. He had already tried calling Samus's Power Suit just to check up on their progress, but wherever the bounty hunter was, she didn't seem to have reception. Normally this lack of control over the situation would have irked him to no end, but his surreal conversation with Meryl had convinced him otherwise. "We have to trust them. Our mission within our sphere of influence is as important as their mission within theirs. If they need us, we'll know."

The flightless Spyro crawled over to them. "Yeah…or they'll be too dead to ask. But hey, at least we've got front row seats at Armageddon, am I right?"

Snake smirked. "That's the spirit, soldier."

They took a few steps away from the edge so another lightning bolt wouldn't send any of them 200 feet below, and just stood or sat, soaking in the airborne tension, knowing that one way or another, the world as they knew it was about to end.

* * *

 **New Alexandria**

 **Microsoft World**

* * *

The Master Chief watched the understatedly inclement weather rage from his personal chambers in one of the futuristic city's tallest skyscrapers. He could hear the distant screams of panicking citizens below, the screeches and blares of horns as people ran for cover or fled the city in some vain search of safety. Master Chief had already publicly advised all of Reach, and Microsoft, to _not_ panic and to remain indoors, but portentous cataclysmic conditions tended to leave people a bit unhinged. So he just stood calmly, the black bolts crackling in his amber visor's reflection.

He received a transmission from the Enchanted Kingdom, and accepted the call. The holographic image of Kameo appeared above his communicator.

"All the RareWare Islands are secure," she reported.

The Chief nodded. "Our meteorologists say this anomaly extends far beyond Smash Planet, so there would be no use ordering an evacuation. We just need to ensure that no one gets hurt from unnecessary civil unrest."

"Yeah." Kameo hesitated before speaking again. "Is this it, Chief? Is this the Great Convergence? Is it game over for us?"

The tempestuous lights outside caused Master Chief's visor to flicker like a faulty television. "Knowing the Smash Brothers? I'll bet my life they pull through. The light in their hearts is far stronger than Xehanort's darkness. I only wish I could be there to share in their imminent triumph."

Kameo nodded. "I'll tell that loud-beaked, doomsday-chirping Breegull you said that. And the others. But mostly her."

Beneath his helmet, the Master Chief's virtually never-before-seen face smiled. "You do that."

* * *

 **Corneria City**

 **Lylat System**

* * *

From General Pepper's office in one of Corneria City's comparably tall skyscrapers, the old hound dog squinted out the window as the Cornerian skies were enveloped in a similar blood-red blanket. He hadn't been as involved in the Smash Brothers' endeavors as he'd have liked to be, but from what Star Fox had told him, he knew this must mean the end was approaching.

"General, you getting this?"

Bill Grey's image appeared on a nearby screen.

"Yes, captain. If Dash Bowman's prognosis is correct, it appears the Great Convergence has begun. How is the rest of the galaxy?"

Bill frowned. "Weird. Within all the planetary atmospheres throughout the Smash Universe, the same red skies and black lightning are on the loose. But in open space, rainbow nebulae are swirling around everywhere and shimmering like oil puddles. No systems have been drastically affected yet, but it looks like all matter is being pulled toward a source way, way out on the other side of the Federations, and it's slowly picking up speed, like a draining space tub."

"Thank you for that image," General Pepper said with less than complete earnestness. He coughed and looked out at the sky again, his wrinkled face creating folds of skin around his eye sockets. "Now we must count on Fox McCloud and his Smash Brother friends. They are our only hope."

"Yeah," Bill said. "But you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

 **Gadd's Laboratory**

 **Nintendo World**

* * *

"Oof…"

Either Master Hand and his colleagues had a twisted sense of humor, or Luigi was just extremely unlucky. For the umpteenth time, he found his face squashed by DK's hairy behind as they awoke outside Professor E. Gadd's lab on the outskirts of Fourside.

The building still retained its Heartless remodeling, a low black structure with the Gadd-Reeka Labs insignia on the front. But Mario and the others were assuming that with the demise of Xehanort, Heartless were at least one thing they no longer had to worry about. What was more concerning was the crackling crimson sky, an ever-present reminder that they had very little time to save This World.

Once they were all awake and alert, Mario rang the doorbell at the front entrance—hesitating only slightly before doing so. They waited for two full minutes, their eyes wandering around the intricate power plants and foul-smelling mounds of chemical waste strewn across the landscape. There was much wrinkling of noses.

"Maybe we should—" DK began. But then a green light flashed above the entrance, and the metal door slid smoothly open, allowing them inside.

The lobby was deserted and rather grim-looking, with paintings of ghosts from Luigi's Mansion adorning the walls—not the least of which being the coronated King Boo himself. There were also images of some of Reeka's repulsive hybrid monsters: Piranha Gohma; the Topi Bear; Krackorock; Mr. Dragon Patch; Aparidley; the Shadow Hand. A message in red teletype text scrolled across the message board above the unoccupied secretary's desk.

"Come to my bedroom," Ness read aloud.

They exchanged glances, shrugged, and went off down the mostly familiar hallway toward the professor's private quarters. There was a tension in the air—not of danger, but of what they would find. After all, Gadd's mental togetherness had been on the decline even before the Heartless came, ever since his traumatic experience being Deleted by L.O.G. in the Citadel.

At length, they reached the door to Gadd's bedchamber. Mario knocked tentatively on the door.

"Come in!" a faint voice called. The awkwardness was almost palpable; it looked, for all the world, like they were visiting a great-grandparent in a nursing home.

Mario turned the knob and pushed the rather out-of-place wooden door forward, which squeaked as it permitted them into Gadd's bedroom.

It was almost disappointing how little had changed. Gadd's room was still an unruly mess, papers strewn all across his bed and desks and floor, ghostly ectoplasm soaking into the carpet and sheets here and there, stray Piranha Plant leaves littered everywhere, equations and foreign scribblings scrawled all along the walls and shelves and windows and even the door. And hunched over in his wheelchair like a shriveled grape was the man himself.

"Why, Smash Brothers!" Gadd said with an almost unsettling lightness. "How good of you to pop in, lads!"

Mario and Luigi came forward, each of them taking one of Gadd's emaciated, liver-spotted hands in their own.

"How are you a-feeling, professor?" Luigi asked. "Do you remember what's been a-happening?"

Panic crossed over Gadd's expression. "Gadzooks! Did I miss the Grand Prix Finals? Must've slept in again. Drat. This old coot's not as spry as he used to be, no sirree…" He began muttering incoherently, his whole body shaking with muscular weakness.

"Professor, we need your a-help," Mario said, squeezing Gadd's hand urgently. "We don't have a-time to explain everything. But This a-World's about to end, and we have to get to a black hole to unlock the Kingdom a-Hearts. Can you tell us how to get a-there safely?"

Mario's words seemed to go in one of Gadd's ears and out the other. Gadd was now staring vacantly at the opposite wall, as if he'd forgotten his visitors entirely. His head drooped and he started drooling.

The Smashers looked at each other in dismay. It didn't look like they were going to get any help from Gadd, as much as they loved and respected him. Why had Master Hand sent them here if the one with the knowledge they needed—and soon—was unable to give it to them?

Pikachu leapt gently onto Gadd's lap and looked at him pleadingly. "Chu?"

But Gadd just went into another bout of muttering, paying the Pokémon no heed.

"We need to act now, whether the professor can help us or not," Jody said, turning to Samus and Fox. "Do we have any way to find this black hole and fly there?"

Samus shook her head. "If we had a few days, maybe. But even if we could get back to the _Starcutter_ in time and hyperjump right up to the black hole, there's no way even Magolor's ship could withstand that kind of force. There has to be another way."

"If only my father were here," Fox sighed.

"Maybe we should search the room," Sora suggested. "We don't have time to visit anyone else. And if we don't figure this out soon, the Smash Universe will be history."

"H-history…"

Now Gadd had raised his head, somehow stimulated by Sora's words. He raised a trembling arm and pointed toward his bookshelf. "M-map…"

Zelda went over and scanned the shelf, trying to follow the professor's extremely unsteady gesture. She soon identified the familiar old tome and pulled it out: _The Foreseen and Unforeseen History of the Near and Distant Past as well as the Near and Distant Future, As Glimpsed from the Present Past, Presently._

"Let me see a-that," Luigi said, taking the book from her and starting to flip frantically through the pages. Suddenly, his visit to Madame Clairvoya three years ago jumped to the front of his mind. Some of the ghostly medium's words stood out.

 _The Darkener of Hearts shall assemble his Thirteen Vassals, and they shall accomplish his work. The Thirteen will only fall against the Twelve and their allies. Then, where the end begins, all will be revealed and the struggle will bear its ultimate fruit…_

 _Where the end begins…_

"Found it!" he cried, spreading the book out on the desk for the others to see.

It was the map of Smash Planet, with little irregular shapes representing Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and the various islands. And underneath the tiny island at the center, scrawled in barely legible script, were these words: _Where the End Begins._

"Atari Island," Ness said.

Zelda smiled. "As the pirate in me would say, we have our heading."

* * *

After saying their thanks to Professor E. Gadd (who responded only with a spooky whistled tune blown through his goofy teeth), the Smashers left with the book to find the nearest of Gadd's portals in another part of his lab. Most of the party were fully committed to the task at hand even though they still weren't quite sure exactly what they would be doing, but two among their number were still numbed by the recent deaths that afflicted their souls. Things had happened so fast since the showdown with the last four Vassals and Xehanort that only now did the gravity of their losses press upon them with full weight.

DK, lost in thought, found himself joined by Samus, of all people.

"Hey," she said as they walked back down the hallway. "You'll be back with Chunky before you know it. You know that, right?"

DK nodded. "Yeah. And besides…there are others who have it a lot worse than me." He inclined his chin forward, where the Mario Brothers were pacing beside each other, ahead of the rest.

"Bro," Mario said as they turned a corner and neared the portal room. He put a hand on Luigi's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Luigi's mind filled with images of the frenzied, alphabetic Unown; of April tumbling over the edge; of the hole in his heart which had been ruptured with her death. And he couldn't help thinking—even if they were able to stop the utter extinction of their universe, there was a high chance that he would never see his girlfriend again.

"I'm a-fine," he said.

Mario knew his brother's words weren't true, but he didn't press it. He just squeezed Luigi's shoulder and smiled reassuringly.

"We're almost a-done."

They hurried into the portal room and waited as Samus and Jody booted up the portal. Soon enough, the purple foil texture filled the space under the arch, and they were ready to go. But first, Mario turned to address them all. He tried not to look or sound as anxious as he felt.

"Whatever happens in a-there," he said, "we're a-ready. Ever since L.O.G. called us a-programs with no control over our a-destinies, I wondered if all a-this…everything we've a-worked for…our kingdoms…were worth a-saving. But now we know—we're much a-more than that. We can get a-back what we've lost. So let's a-go and do it!"

There was no fanfare or chorus of cheers in response to this speech. Just nervous nods of acknowledgement before each of them filed through the portal, clinging onto their last shred of hope contained in the old book in Luigi's hands.

* * *

 **Atari Island**

* * *

They came out into a large, sandy clearing. Some of them soon recognized the place as where Reeka had once installed one of his satellite facilities. Reeka had sucked it through a vortex back to Microsoft when a few of the Smashers had stumbled upon Atari's plight and had rescued the Atarians from the Space Invaders by defeating the Space Invader Queen. Palm trees whipped in the wild winds stirred by the tempestuous sky. The red light reflected off the ocean like the surface of a giant sea of rubies. But other than the storm, the island still felt like the isolated, forgotten paradise it had always been.

"Now what?" DK asked, looking to Luigi for answers.

Luigi frowned. I don't a-know. The book doesn't a-tell us anything more."

Mario nodded, having accepted the likelihood that their task would be anything but easy. "We can start by a-finding Rocketman, and ask him if there are any strange a-portals here that could a-take us to the black hole."

 _"And we will come with you."_

They turned toward the ocean to find a familiar crew of motley Smashers: Mewtwo; Princess Peach; Bowser; the Ice Climbers; Mr. Game & Watch; Marth; Roy.

This was all who were left of the Original 25.

"Princess!" Mario ran up to embrace Peach and nodded to Bowser. "How did you a-find us?"

Bowser snorted. "You wouldn't believe us even if we told you."

"Was it Master Hand?" DK said.

Bowser's grin faded, as if DK's correct guesswork was cause for grumpiness. "Well, yeah. I guess we were all brought here to meet with you and save the world. Cheesy as that sounds."

"We are all glad to have you with us," Zelda said, especially acknowledging Marth and Roy, who had done so much for her already. "Now…shall we go on?"

They delved into the sandy jungle of the inner island, wondering whether, at any second, their whole world would be swept up in an apocalyptic outburst of the rainbow nebulae seen by a few of them in the Mystic's vision; and then they would be too late, forever lost, forever forgotten. But nature continued to spare them as they trekked on, eventually reaching the ominous black wall of the vast diamond shape that marked the center of Atari's strange low-resolution realm.

Game & Watch paused before the wall. The last time he had been here, the diamond had been selective about when and whom it allowed to pass inside. He could only hope that this time it didn't reject them like an impenetrable block of Jell-O.

"Here goes no-thing," he said, and stepped inside.

The Smashers all passed through—without incident, to their great relief. Now their surroundings were completely black, without any sense of direction, hot or cold, depth or dimension. Some of them wondered how this part of the Smash Universe had been welded onto Smash Planet during the war that had dissolved the dimensional fabric between worlds. So jarringly unfamiliar, and yet in its own way, unique and wondrous.

They walked across the black backdrop for some time, until ahead they could see the colorful shapes of Atari's peculiar subworlds: Pacman's blue maze; the pixelated mushrooms where the Centipedes dwelled; blocks of Galaga alien bugs sliding back and forth in their quaint formations. Each of these worlds scrolled by the Smashers on either side as they went on, until finally they found the astronaut of the hour, busy dropping pink canisters of fuel into his rocket ship, his white jetpack keeping the rest of his two-dimensional body aloft.

Rocketman took notice of them and hovered over, landing on the "ground" and approaching them. Text appeared above his head.

"SMASH BROTHERS! WHAT BRINGS YOU TO ATARI?"

Game & Watch wasn't quite sure what to say. Did Atari not feel the imminent disintegration of their world as the rest of the Smash Universe did?

"Rock-et-man—we are here to find a por-tal to a black hole. It is of su-preme im-por-tance we do so in or-der to save This World from im-pen-ding de-struc-tion. Can you help us?"

Even though Rocketman's primitive helmet design afforded little in terms of expressive flexibility, his utter lack of physical reaction seemed to convey a clear sense of confusion.

"PORTAL? LIKE THE ONES PROFESSOR GADD USED TO MAKE, OR THE NATURAL PORTALS SCATTERED AROUND NINTENDO? I WISH THIS WERE NOT THE CASE, SMASH BROTHERS...BUT I AM AFRAID THERE ARE NO PORTALS IN ATARI. IT IS AN ENTITY WHICH EXISTS EXCLUSIVELY IN AND OF ITSELF. THAT IS WHY GADD HAD TO BUILD HIS PORTAL OUTSIDE THE REALM ON THE ISLAND SHORE. AS FAR AS I KNOW, ATARI DOES NOT LINK TO ANYWHERE ELSE. IT IS AN EMPTY SPACE WAITING TO BE FILLED, NOT A COMPOSITE KINGDOM BURSTING AT THE SEAMS."

Luigi, trying not to feel discouraged, came forward with the open book. He showed Rocketman the map of Smash Planet. "What about a-this? Does this a-mean anything to you?"

"WHERE THE END BEGINS," Rocketman read. His head shook exactly one pixel to the right and then the left. "I AM VERY SORRY...BUT NO. I HAVE NO INKLING AS TO WHAT THAT MIGHT MEAN. IS THAT...ALL YOU HAVE, SMASHERS? DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER CLUES?"

 _"That is all,"_ Mewtwo said. He, like the others, was becoming quite frustrated. _"But there_ must _be a reason Master Hand sent us here. What are we missing?"_

"Surely there is some kind of breadcrumb trail we can follow," Marth said.

"Breadcrumbs…" Fox turned to Kirby, who was staring at the cherry in the Pac-Maze longingly. "Kirby…you got any Universe messages for us?"

Kirby just shook his head, confused.

"Wait…" Zelda closed her eyes, deep in concentration. For some reason, as Fox questioned Kirby, a particular moment had been reenacted in her mind. It was during the wedding feast in Hyrule Castle, back when everything had seemed right with the world.

* * *

 _At one of the tables, a disturbance was taking place. To the applause and laughter of many, Kirby was testing how precisely he could suck food from specific guests' plates across the room, adjusting the aperture of his mouth to control the flow of air—although the word "control" might have been a bit too generous in this circumstance._

 _"Kirby." Meta Knight nudged him and inclined his head toward King Dedede, who had deliberately sat as far from Kirby as possible and was about to dig into a Cucco breast, his mouth salivating. Kirby smiled a sneaky smile and nodded._

 _Not only did the chicken fly out of Dedede's hands, but it made a point of smacking him in the face on the way over, as if the Cucco's restless spirit had sought revenge on its would-be consumer. Dedede yelled in frustration and stood and pointed at the puffball._

 _"For the love of all that is edible—I can't enjoy my supper for five minutes without that moochin' menace suckin' the joy out of everything!" He began to reach for his hammer in his anger, but thought better of it. Instead, he just glared at Kirby and sat back down and folded his arms while a waiter ran off to refill his empty plate. "I'm tellin' y'all…Kirby's stomach is a doggone black hole!"_

 _"Kirby's stomach is a doggone black hole!"_

 _"A doggone black hole!"_

 _"A doggone black hole!"_

* * *

Zelda turned to Rocketman. "Rocketman—you say Atari is an entity in and of itself, an empty space waiting to be filled. But what if the reason it's empty…is because it's a spliced part of another empty space? A black hole, for instance? What if another empty space—Kirby's stomach—could transport things to the other side, but only while it's here?"

There was a long pause.

"Thaaaaaat's a stretch," DK said.

"But it kinda makes sense in a really weird way," Nana said. "I mean, when we were in the Dimension Conflux, we drifted through empty space, and were taken to other parts of that realm by touching these strange giant machines—containers, of a sort."

Popo nodded. "Kirby's stomach is a giant container if there ever was one."

"Let me get this straight," Bowser growled. He pointed at Kirby. " _That_ gumball's stomach is part of a black hole. Atari is part of a black hole. So if he swallows us while we're in here, we'll go to another part of that same black hole?"

"Oh dear," Peach said.

Mario slowly nodded. "It's the only plan we've a-got." He turned to Sora. "Are you a-ready for this?"

Sora didn't like to think about falling on top of everything—and every _one_ —Kirby had ever eaten. But he knew this was their best chance. "Yeah. I'll do it." He turned to Kirby. "Kirby, suck me in."

"Suck us all in," Samus said, joining Sora. "If there are any apocalyptic space aliens guarding the Heart of This World, we can't take the chance of letting anything stop you."

"Well…" DK hesitated. After a moment, he pounded his fist on the invisible ground, making no sound. "Screw it. You can just spit us out if it doesn't work, anyway."

"IF YOU ARE GOING TO DO THIS," Rocketman said, "THEN I WILL WAIT HERE IN CASE ANYTHING HAPPENS TO KIRBY, OR IF YOU NEED HELP COMING BACK."

Mario nodded. "Kirby," he said, "it's a-time. Do it."

Kirby's eyes widened. No one had ever _asked_ him to be eaten before. And after what happened to Meta Knight…

Kirby cast the thought from his mind. That hadn't been him. It had been Heartless Kirby. Now, he was confident he could command total control over his stomach. He himself had never been completely sure how his bowels worked, but this seemed like the right thing to do—however odd it might seem. He narrowed his eyes and exhaled deeply.

"Luck, friends!" he said. And then he opened his biological vacuum nozzle. He pulled each willing Smasher into his mouth, felt a weird turbulence somewhere inside, but swallowed all the same. The deed was done.


	37. Chapter 27: The Fourth Voice (2)

There they were: Sora; Mario; Luigi; Yoshi; DK; Pikachu; Jigglypuff; Zelda; Samus; Ness; Fox; Jody; Mewtwo; Peach; Bowser; the Ice Climbers; Mr. Game & Watch; Marth; Roy. Twenty heroes, floating in pitch darkness like an Alfred Hitchcock rendition of _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_.

There had been no violent plunge or gale-force travel or tornado-tossed flying as one might expect from a journey into Kirby's stomach. It was more like they had all descended into a dreamlike realm, everything fuzzy, especially their thoughts. As they floated, no attempts to stroke forward or backward seemed to make any difference. So it appeared they were all just there for whatever hallucinogenic ride awaited.

They weren't disappointed.

A tiny pinprick of light grew into a bright circle like a sun, until it was so big that it filled nearly half their vision. Then some other astral sphere crossed over it, the silhouette eclipsing the light until all they could see was a glowing ring around the edges of the interloping planet.

Looking more closely, however, it became evident that the planet was no sphere at all; it was shaped like a star. Or, more specifically, like a Warpstar, due to its rounded edges. The star-shaped planet began to spin like a whirligig, slowly at first like a rusty steamboat propeller, then faster until it was moving so quickly that it might as well have been a sphere after all.

An off-centered cross of light penetrated through the planet from the bright star behind it, creating a clear representation of the Smash Brothers' symbol. The searing light was almost blinding. And as the heroes made to shield their eyes, they found the planet-sized insignia rushing toward them, as if they were all flying through space at unquestionably perilous speeds. The Smashers could do nothing but watch wide-eyed or shut their eyes tight as they were involuntarily rocketed toward the shimmering red intersection of the off-centered cross, then engulfed by its light.

Now they were standing on an endless, glowing white surface, like some kind of celestial desert with an otherworldly gradient. The blackness of space was spread out above them, but the speckled stars were in many places shrouded by enormous nebulae of dazzling rainbow stardust. These tie-dye tendrils were slowly swirling in a galactic orbit around the black hole's core, which was not too far from the Smashers—though how the swallowees weren't affected by its pull was a profound mystery.

The black hole's core was a massive sphere of writhing currents, the rainbow nebulae simultaneously pushing out and pulling in from its ebony center. It was like a downsized Jupiter whose layered gas storms had been converted to shadows, and whose gravitational pull had been amplified to such a degree that nothing else in the universe could resist, particles of matter decomposing into the rainbow dust that was drawing everything toward the center like the drain of a sedimentary sink. And yet there stood the Smash Brothers, less than a football field away, but utterly unaffected. How were they even able to breathe?

"As counterintuitive as this will sound," Fox said, eyeing up the writhing sphere, "I think we need to get closer. The Heart of This World's gotta be inside."

No one had any counterarguments, so they began their approach.

As they did so, however, something even stranger occurred. Incoherent whispers joined in a hushed chorus, and translucent figures composed of radiant blue light began emerging from the darkness, forming two ghostly lines on either side of the Smash Brothers' slow procession.

"Pika?" Pikachu and Jigglypuff paused at the appearance of the first figure. It was a young woman with sleek, dark green hair and hypnotic violet eyes, possessing a sort of dangerous beauty. Sabrina, the Gym Leader of Saffron City who had been killed by Metal Mewtwo so long ago.

But Sabrina didn't respond to Pikachu's inquisitive exclamation, other than to look at him and smile coolly, as she did while the other Smashers passed by.

"Robert!"

But Jody's similar astonishment at the sight of the deceased F-Zero pilot, Dr. Stewart, only elicited the same tacit response. It was as if these ghosts were there to see them to the end, but only as silent observers.

The Smashers had initially paused at these first two apparitions, but as more and more passed by, they realized this wasn't an interactive visitation like the ones many of them had already experienced; it was a collective glimpse of their spiritual audience.

There was Impa again, regarding them with her arms folded, acknowledging them with a curt nod.

Orca, the shirtless old man from Outset Island, his trademark spear planted on the glowing white ground.

Cranky Kong, rocking back and forth in an immaterial rocking chair while he regarded them with his perpetually disapproving expression.

Meryl Silverburgh, Snake's old friend.

King K. Rool—his full, organic self, without the cyborg parts.

Bowser's seven Koopalings: Larry, Morton, Wendy, Iggy, Roy, Lemmy, and Ludwig.

The Rito Postman, Quill.

Taj the elephant genie, hovering on his magic carpet.

Mumbo Jumbo, the shaman who had been impersonated by Mingy Jongo in RareWare Tower.

Conker the Squirrel, an almost unrecognizable sanity evident in his bright, whimsical eyes.

Bumper the panda, one of the Timber's Island racers.

Dominic Santiago, Marcus Fenix's level-headed companion.

Brick, the bulkiest member of the Vault Hunters.

Cortana, the Master Chief's beautiful blue AI friend.

Captain Falcon, saluting them beside a number of other F-Zero racers who had been killed over the years.

Tikal the Echidna, former guardian of Mobius's Chaos Emeralds.

Toggle, one of Sackboy's sackcloth comrades.

Proto Man, Megaman's first android predecessor.

Lieutenant Foster, MechWarrior's fallen tech expert.

Toadsworth, Princess Peach's ever-faithful advisor.

Kameo's pale-skinned, heavily makeupped sister, Kalus, along with the King and Queen who had been poisoned by the Mystic.

Meta Knight, brandishing Galaxia beside Blade Knight and many of his fellow Star Warriors, all of them raising their weapons in a gesture of deep respect.

A small cluster of figures that almost made Zelda's heart stop: Darunia, chief of the Gorons; Princess Ruto, hands on her hips as always; and, stroking Epona's back with Navi fluttering near his shoulder…

Link. He just smiled at Zelda, as mute as the rest. And perhaps even more remarkably, beside him stood Ganondorf, a forceful look in his eye that made the princess almost feel like he was proud of her.

Valoo, the Sky Spirit of Dragon Roost Island. Apparently he hadn't survived his injuries on Shadow Moses Island after all.

Cipher, the Strangerealean ace pilot—along with his two wingmen, Pixy and PJ.

Pit—Kid Icarus—his feathery wings combined with his teal glow now giving him the visage of a true angel.

King Dedede, his hammer resting casually on his back, his already broad stomach swelling with pride.

Panther Caruso and Leon Powalski—Wolf's fallen team members—smirking and scowling at them, respectively. Falco Lombardi with his arms folded cockily.

Sylux, and several of Samus's other fellow bounty hunters. Evidently few of them had survived both the Space Pirate War and the confrontation on Zebes.

Legion, its red eye bulb flashing as healthily as if Giygas had never destroyed it.

Geno, the Star Spirit within him sparkling through his porcelain puppet eyes.

Chunky and Diddy Kong, waving at their speechless family head with heart-melting cheerfulness.

And another small, significant cluster: Red's Charizard and original Pikachu; Lorelei and Bruno of the Elite Four; April, smiling benignly; and Quentin, a peacefulness in his expression that hadn't really been present since he first reunited with his son on _The_ _King's Krystal._

In this trance-like procession, the Smashers soon found themselves right in front of the writhing black sphere. It was the end of the line. Almost every fallen Smash Brother, All-Star, and Sentinel had been accounted for. It was a kind of closure never before experienced—a final, Great Vision.

Mewtwo approached the unstable edge of the sphere, examined it, and extended a paw.

The force of the recoil blasted the Psychic Pokémon halfway back to where they'd started.

"I…don't think we can get inside that," Roy said.

Sora stepped forward. _"You_ can't; but I can. It's like Master Hand said: the Heart of This World can only be reached by someone who's got friends on the other side—friends who've experienced True Death. This is where I go on…alone."

Again, there were no counterarguments. Just silent, though reluctant, acceptance.

Mario approached Sora and put a hand on his shoulder. "We can never thank a-you enough for all you've a-done for This World."

Sora managed a laugh. "That's okay. My universe was the one that brought all this trouble to you in the first place, so it's only right that I be the one to fix it. At least, as much as I can."

"You know," DK said, glancing back at his deceased family members, "I'm not so sure you bringing all this to our world was a bad thing. I mean, This World's been great and all…but I, for one, don't think I'll mind having things restored back to the way they should be." It was clear that by "things," DK meant the Kong family.

Each of the Smashers in turn had their own losses to think about. Some of those losses might be fixed by the Great Convergence; others not as likely. For Luigi and April; Samus and Snake and Captain Falcon; and really for each Smasher in relation to worlds outside their own; this was to be a final goodbye.

Sora felt just a bit uplifted by DK's encouraging words. He summoned the Kingdom Key, looking back at them as he approached the black sphere.

"May your hearts be your guiding key," he said.

And then he stabbed at the sphere with his Keyblade.

This time, the barrier did not reject him and thrust him away. Instead, the blade passed straight through the writhing shadows as if they were no more than exactly that: shadows.

And upon contact, a burst of light streamed from the blade's tip, and this time a sizeable host of spirits appeared in the sky, all of them regarding Sora and the Smashers like some ancient court of spiritual ancestors.

However, there was one thing Sora didn't notice: None of the Smashers could see what he was seeing.

Sora's mouth hung open. They were all there: Kairi; Riku; Roxas; Naminé; Donald; Goofy; King Mickey; Ansem the Wise; Axel; Xion; Aqua; Terra; Ventus; Cloud Strife; and many other characters and heroes from the former Disney Universe.

Riku stepped forward. "Time to go, Sora. Feel free to take your time; the universe is just collapsing all around us. No pressure."

"I'm so proud of you, Sora," Kairi said.

Tears dripped down Sora's face. "Will I be with you again…after it ends?"

Axel snorted, his green catlike eyes almost taunting him. "You can't get rid of us _that_ easy; we'll always be a part of you, even when every other universe forgets we ever existed." He tapped his veritable mane of spiky red hair and winked. "Got it memorized?"

Sora managed a smile and nodded. "I'm ready now."

And he walked into the core of the black hole, leaving the Smash Brothers behind forever.

* * *

It was just like Sora remembered from his dream on the Destiny Islands.

Utter darkness—save for the dazzling blue-green heart pulsing before him, its light quickly swallowed by a somehow sentient blackness. He was alone—just him and his Keyblade. And yet, he felt as if he were in the eye of a tornado, the darkness forming a raging cyclone that threatened to swallow him up. He couldn't tell whether the dragon-sized Heart of This World was fighting it off…or controlling it.

And somehow, contained within that darkness were flickers and lightning glimpses of people, and places, and things, and ideas. It all went too fast for him to get a good look at any of them, but at the same time, a cacophonous chorus of whispered yells echoed from all sides, most of which was muddled nonsense, but every now and then he could make something out.

"…the Nintendo World belongs to me…"

Unlike his dream, however, this time Sora saw a face to go with it: the unmistakable pale cruelty of Nightmare, as he confronted the Smash Brothers in Master Hand's Room. Sora had never met him personally, but something in his heart seemed to click the facts into place.

"…your existence is meaningless…"

Again, an accompanying image: the yellow monitor and aged green screen of L.O.G., as he bore the destructive LOGosphere swiftly toward the targeted Citadel.

"…there is no such thing as a pure heart…"

Now Xehanort's face filled Sora's vision, his topaz eyes still burning as if they had never been extinguished, even though Sora knew these words had been spoken long ago in the Kokiri Forest.

The raging black currents and flashing images and overlapping voices were overwhelming, and the only fixed part of this entire place was the giant heart. Everything seemed to assault him from all sides, body and soul, pressuring him to succumb to despair. He wanted to scream, but he couldn't even do that. All he could do was float and observe this nightmare. Observe chaos in its purest form.

 _Enough,_ Sora thought, gripping the Kingdom Key tighter, his eyes fixed on Kingdom Hearts. _I know what I have to do._

He pushed his floating body forward, straining against the black currents that urged him every which way except the one he was pursuing. He drew near the Heart of This World, drew black his Keyblade, and…

He heard the Fourth Voice.

* * *

The Smash Brothers waited for Sora to finish the job and prevent the Great Convergence from spelling the total end of their existence.

And they waited.

And waited.

Ten long minutes went by. The spiraling rainbow nebulae were moving more swiftly, more violently, indicating that they wouldn't wait much longer before pulling the rest of the Smash Universe into the black hole.

Five more minutes after that, Mewtwo spoke to their minds, his eyes clenched shut in concentration.

 _"Something is wrong."_

Zelda nodded. "He should have succeeded by now."

"Maybe he already has," DK said uncertainly. "How would we even know?"

"Well, maybe we can ask…" But Ness's voice trailed off as he realized all the apparitions of the Great Vision were gone. They were alone again, the surviving members of the Original 25, waiting somewhere inside Kirby for their world to end. Not the kind of thing that happens every day.

"We have to help him," Jody said, and before anyone could stop her, she stepped up to the black sphere and brought back her fist.

"Falcon…PUNCH!"

This time, the recoil sent the intruder about three-quarters of the way back to where they had begun.

"Well, crap," Bowser said.

They stood for a silent moment, trying to put their faith in Sora. But that was just it: it wasn't a lack of faith in Sora that was bothering them; it was a distinct feeling in their hearts that the Heart of This World hadn't been unlocked, and that Sora was in trouble. Surely, with all the hearts of the Smash Universe connected to Kingdom Hearts, they would feel a difference when their fates were changed.

"I sup-pose we will sim-ply have to wait it out," Game & Watch said uncertainly. "Sor-a was the on-ly one with friends that suf-fered True Death."

"No."

The Smashers turned to the speaker in surprise. It was Mario. The plumber's fists were clenched, his brow furrowed, his face glistening with sweat.

"We've a-seen most of our fallen friends here. But there's a-one who never showed." A distant look came over him as he gazed out at the shrouded stars. "And I think they're a-waiting for another to pass a-through. Waiting for a-me. I…I've a-got to go in."

Yoshi, Luigi, and Peach were all stunned speechless.

"What?" Bowser pushed a few Smashers out of his way as he stomped up to Mario. He looked like he was having difficulty restraining himself from shaking Mario like a disobedient rag doll. "What kind of bull crap is this? Even if you could get through to Sora, whose ghost haven't we seen that would make it work? It'd have to be someone who knew you well, and cared enough to choose True Death just to save…" Bowser's pupils shrank in realization as he remembered two shadowy guests from Mario's past that had shown up in Hyrule for the wedding. "Oh."

Mario nodded, looking at each Smasher in turn. His eyes lingered particularly long on Yoshi, then Luigi, then Princess Peach. "I've at least a-got to try."

He summoned his fiery Keyblade into his hand, and slowly approached the blackness.

"But, Mario…" Luigi's voice was almost a whisper. But he had his brother's attention. "If you go in a-there, _you'll_ get the True Death too."

Mario didn't have the emotional capacity to reply at the moment. He just poked his Keyblade forward to test whether it would penetrate the black currents.

It did.

"Yoshi!" The dinosaur was so distressed that he had cried out in his native tongue as he hurled himself at his lifelong friend—not knocking him over, but strongly wishing Mario would succumb to the pressure and back away from the black core. "You can't do this!" was how his protest translated.

Mario rubbed Yoshi's neck affectionately, and gently pushed him away. His eyes were now brimming with moisture, in spite of his best efforts. "It's the only a-way."

Luigi came next, gripping Mario in a reluctant hug. "You're the real a-deal, bro."

But one final obstacle stood between him and his fateful decision. Princess Peach had come up to his other side and softly taken his arm. Her royal beauty was made all the more resplendent, yet also horrid, by her current state. She said nothing—just stood there, pleading for her hero to come back with her. Impending extinction or not, she would have clearly preferred for them to end together than to go on alone.

Mario almost relented—but the thought of Sora, needing his help; of the Nintendo World's and the Smash Universe's immeasurable beauty and life and meaning hanging by a string; of his dearest loved ones who needed him to leave them behind now more than ever—all these gave him the impossible resolve to shake his head.

"I'm a-sorry, Peach. I love a-you." He turned again to the rest. "I love all of a-you. And now…I know my purpose. It doesn't a-matter if we're remembered as heroes, or at all; just that we a-do the right thing. That's all that a-counts." He kissed Peach on the lips, and began to walk into the darkness.

Peach clung on a little longer, squeezing his hand, her internal world shattering just as her outer world continued to collapse. "I'll never forget you."

Mario turned one last time, his mustache turned up in the faintest of smiles.

"Yes you a-will. And that's okay."

Then he stepped through and was gone.

Bowser roared with a special fury—not the fury of a thwarted villain, but that of a Koopa King whose entire life's framework and purpose had just been tossed into a fire. Peach, and Yoshi, and Luigi, and several others cried silently, still staring at the spot where the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom had disappeared.

Mewtwo, on the other hand, was watching grimly as the galactic vista grew more and more violent. _"The Convergence is nearly upon us. There must be some way we can give them more time."_

"There is." Yoshi, still extremely distraught, managed to think through what they knew about the Great Convergence. "Remember, Master Hand told us that what held the Smash Universe together until now…was fighting. It was when that fighting stopped that This World began to break apart. So maybe…"

"Maybe if we all start fighting, we can slow it down," Ness finished.

Zelda nodded. "It's worth a try. But I doubt it will make much difference if we're the only ones to do so." She looked at Samus meaningfully.

"On it," she said. "Calling all contacts. Though I don't know what kind of signal quality we'll get in this place." Once her Power Suit's communicator was set to broadcast, Samus cleared her throat and spoke.

"This is the Smash Brothers. If anyone can hear us…This World is about to end, and we need your help to slow it down. Drop whatever you're doing, and start fighting each other. Fighting is the glue that's held our universe together this long, and if you join us in this final fight, we might just be able to get through this. Please…if you have anything worth living for…now is the time to prove it."

* * *

 **Candy Chateau**

 **Sony World**

* * *

Snake smirked as Samus's message broadcasted through his communicator's speakers to every All-Star present. It was such a strange, simple request—there was no way of comprehending how it could possibly make any difference in the Great Convergence's outcome—and yet, it felt right.

"Knew she'd pull through," he said. He noticed the All-Stars were all staring at him. "Well, what are you all standing around for, soldiers?" He punched Sly Cooper in the face without warning. "You have your orders. Now, fight!"

Without further questioning, they engaged each other. Jak matched his elemental Eco weapons against Megaman's Mega Buster. Ratchet leapt at Rayman while his robot companion Clank tackled Daxter. Sonic and Crash Bandicoot spun around each other in a chocolatey whirlwind. Spyro went toe to toe with Sackboy, exchanging flame bursts for balls of yarn, which flew at him like rogue curveballs. He might not have been able to fly anymore, but he was still quick on his claws.

It was a fight like no other—not a fight to conquer evil, or to settle a dispute, or even to win a tournament. It was not even just a fight to survive, but a fight for their very existence.

* * *

 **Timber's Island**

 **RareWare Islands**

* * *

"Bombs away!" Kazooie hollered. She sent a volley of blue eggs toward the racers scattered below in their little cars, which were firing relatively harmless weapons at each other. Bear and bird both cried out, however, as a cartoonish red missile struck them from behind, halving their distance from the ground. Dixie Kong had snuck up on them in her tiny plane.

"Gawrsh," Banjo said as they swerved away to give themselves a better angle to deal with their ambusher. "I sure hope everythin' the Master Chief told us about the Smash Brothers was true. 'Cause if this doesn't actually help us save the world, then it'll be a whole lotta hurt for nothin'."

In midair, Kazooie pooped an egg directly onto Tiptup's head, causing the turtle to yell before crashing into a pool of water. She grinned.

"Oh, I wouldn't say the pain would be for nothing. It sure makes _me_ feel better."

* * *

What they didn't know was that back in New Alexandria, Master Chief was watching approvingly while the rest of RareWare and Microsoft heeded Samus's call as relayed through him. On one screen, Ryu Hayabusa and his ninjas were sparring; on another, Marcus Fenix and his fellow Serans were playfully pulverizing each other; and other friendly fights—Kameo and her elves; MechWarrior and the other BattleMechs; the Vault Hunters; Jack Wynand and the residents of Rapture; Joanna Dark and her agency of spies; Berri and her squirrel soldiers; Commander Shepard and the former crew of the _Normandy_. All were fighting for this last, most desperate cause.

Satisfied, Master Chief turned and met against the other Spartans he'd summoned, joining the brawl.

* * *

 **Planet Bomber**

* * *

The Bombermen took the expression "bombs away" to a whole other level. Though they had thankfully defused the worst of the bomb chains that would have exploded the entire planet, they still had plenty of explosives to chuck and kick at each other.

Outside Bomber Base, Pacman was personally having a blast facing off against his pyrotechnically obsessed associate. He tossed two-dimensional cherries, oranges, apples, melons, yellow bells, spinning blue keys, and the occasional Galaxian. Bomberman hopped and dove away from the projectiles and provided his own explosive supply as return fire.

And their planet was just one of many: from the dogfights in Lylat to the fistfights in Port Town; from the nonlethal shootouts in Elysia to the pummeling Waddle Dees on Popstar; from the tussling Krogans on Tuchanka to the swashbuckling Sky Pirates of Aeropa—it was a dying universe relying for its survival on, of all things, fighting.

* * *

 **Outside the Black Hole's Core**

* * *

Bowser and DK wrestled each other. Peach and Zelda fought parasol against Master Keyblade. Fox and Ness dodged and reflected and absorbed each other's lasers and PK attacks. Yoshi, encased in an egg, raced around the celestial desert with Pikachu. Luigi and Jigglypuff kicked and slapped in between hops and slides. Samus and Jody fought hand to hand, the Chozo Power Suit matched against Captain Falcon's superpowered helmet. Game & Watch and the Ice Climbers bounced around and swung at each other with their hammers.

Marth jumped back from Roy's jab and smiled. "Perhaps you shall soon see Elibe after all, my friend."

Roy smiled back and blocked the Akaneian's counterstrike. "None of us will be seeing anything if you don't put up a better fight."

Mewtwo Teleported away from Fox and Ness's fight, which he had joined, to cast a brief glimpse at the heavens. The rainbow nebulae were still swirling inward, but noticeably slower. His heart lifted as he conveyed the news to the other Smash Brothers.

 _"It's working."_

* * *

Mario's eyes widened as he beheld the green-blue glimmer of Kingdom Hearts, swarmed as it was by darkness. His Keyblade provided limited light as he pressed forward, straining his eyes.

"Sora!" he shouted.

The myriad whispers and roaring winds all but drowned out the faintest of responses:

"Mario…"

Mario pushed closer to the Heart, but even by its light he could see nothing. He yelled Sora's name again and kept scanning the Core, but it wasn't until he was nearly upon the Heart that he saw his friend.

Sora's body was wrapped in merciless tendrils of darkness, held upright like a marionette. Mario hadn't seen it before because the darkness had chosen, for whatever reason, to wait until now to reveal slivers of the boy's helpless body.

"He's…here…" Sora managed.

"Who?"

Suddenly, black tendrils were wrapping around Mario's own figure, pulling him away from the Heart and depriving him of his Keyblade. Mario cried out as he struggled against the darkness, but to no avail.

"Here we are," a hushed voice said, echoing all around them. "Your True Final Destination."

"W-who are a-you?" Mario managed. But even though this voice was unlike anything he'd heard before, like an oozing, supernatural whisper, he felt a strange, dreadful familiarity.

A soft laugh. "Don't you know me, Mario? Sora here…he was warned by that irksome space canine, who in his dimensional travels was the only one to glimpse me as I truly am. Yes, James McCloud, and Kirby to a degree, are able to glance through the outside curtain of This World, to learn things only a dimensionally fluid being can perceive.

"But I digress. Sora had a dream of this place, you see…a dream in which he heard a snippet from each of the Three Brothers, and then me: the Fourth Voice. And what I said back then when I was physically alive, I still stand by now: Nintendo is as corrupt as the other worlds. And at this the End of All Things, you will all get what you deserve: to be cast into oblivion even as I."

In spite of the direness of the situation, Mario found himself fixed on what the Fourth Voice had said: _Nintendo is as corrupt as the other worlds…_

His first guess would have been Xehanort, but considering the Third Brother's recent annihilation, that was clearly not the case. Then he remembered Yoshi telling him about his experiences in Wizpig's Palace, and he recalled that the Deconstructor had been built to sink the Nintendo World into the sea because of a particular individual's hatred of what Nintendonians had done to him.

"Reeka," Mario said.

"Yes…you Smash Brothers destroyed my body twice, and my digitized conscience, it is true. But my essence cannot be destroyed save by the True Death, which we will all soon suffer. A less than ideal prospect for me, but a consolation prize I will settle for.

"The ones who appeared to you as Master Hand and his two colleagues told you that their team was seven: them, and the Three Brothers…and then there was me. I was the genius behind the machine that allowed us to cross into This World and so many others. How ironic, then, that I was to be the one swallowed up in the dimensional threshold on the return trip. They all believed me to be dead, forever lost…but alas, the Hand of Fate had other plans for me.

"I was born and raised as Ulysses Reeka, subject to the humiliation of associating with Elvin Gadd and his pathetic family. Like Nightmare, and L.O.G., and Xehanort, I lived an entire life in This World before I could even think about how to revenge myself upon those who abandoned me here. But unlike them, I knew precisely what had to be done to get back to my Earth.

"I calculated that our three self-righteous colleagues would eventually build another portal and find their way back here, just as I predicted that they would feel responsible to make sure their meddling in This World did not do you any harm. The Three Brothers, with all their resentment and bitterness, were the perfect instruments with which to instigate the portal's reopening.

"So I worked behind the scenes, supporting each Brother in turn to help facilitate conflicts of cataclysmic proportions. I knew only by luring the other three back here would I be able to escape my interdimensional exile and use my new knowledge to dominate the multiverse with science and magic combined. Unfortunately, Nightmare's endeavors only provoked minimal involvement from them. L.O.G.'s campaigns forced them to become more involved, but they were still too cautious to leave me an opening back to the Other Earth.

"Xehanort and his Heartless forced them out of hiding more than any other time, and I came _so_ close to breaking free. had it not been for Sora's indefatigable heart, I would have succeeded. But alas, his heart was too unpredictable for me to complete my plan to steal away from This World, and so here I remain, with nothing left but to ensure all of you go down with me. To ensure that all your small victories shall prove ultimately vain. So goodbye, Mario…Sora…to your existence."

The swirling tendrils of darkness were raging even faster now, closing in on the Heart of This World, whose light was beginning to fade. Mario and Sora both feared the same thing: Soon that light would go out, and then the Smash Universe would be no more.

They struggled harder than ever against the shadowy tendrils, but to no avail. This couldn't be! They were so close! After everything they'd been through…they had come all this way just to fail at the very end.

"Mario…I'm so sorry!" Sora yelled.

Mario shook his head. "We did our a-best. It just wasn't enough in the end."

Kingdom Hearts was dimming ever fainter, like an electric lantern whose battery was almost depleted. Perhaps a minute remained before it was all over.

Mario closed his eyes, awaiting the end, when suddenly he became aware of a pulsing lump in his front pocket. He glanced down and caught a glimpse of a small piece of pink fruit, with part of a smiling face peeking up at him.

It was a Heart Fruit. Yoshi must have secretly kept an extra one this whole time, and slipped it into his pocket while they were saying goodbye. Mario didn't know what effect the Heart Softener would have on someone so essentially evil as Reeka, but if he could just reach it, then maybe…

Flames of willpower conflagrated inside his heart, stimulating his senses, sharpening his focus. He summoned his flaming Keyblade back into his hand, and with one strong jerk, sliced through the tendrils holding his right arm.

The darkness recoiled, though just for a moment. Mario quickly grabbed the Heart Fruit from his pocket and squeezed it, causing velvet juice to drip from his gloved hand and all over the rest of the tendrils.

They hissed and fled from his body upon contact, as if the liquid had been acid rather than juice. Mario didn't know how long his freedom would last, but as soon as his limbs were loose, he leapt toward Sora with every ounce of strength he had, demonstrating the Jumpman he had always been.

Mario sliced through Sora's bonds, setting him free. Sora stumbled forward and summoned the Kingdom Key, and after the briefest of glances, they made straight for the Heart.

Hellish screams echoed all around as the two heroes bounded toward the Heart of This World, bringing back their Keyblades. Reeka's darkness was already pressing forward, racing them to the Heart with its numberless tendrils.

"Together!" they both yelled, and dove forward.

Just as the darkness was about to rip them away from their target, both Keyblades pierced the Heart. Immediately, its dim center brightened like a rapidly growing firefly, filling the heart again, and then spilling out in majestic beams through both points of penetration.

Reeka's screams were overwhelmed by heavenly ringing as light exploded from Kingdom Hearts, smothering the darkness as if it had never been there.

Mario and Sora stood there, their Keyblades still stuck in the heart. They looked at each other and smiled.

"Thank a-you," Mario said.

Sora nodded. "Same to you."

They looked forward again as two translucent figures descended through the blinding light—one a girl with striking red hair, the other a shadowy purple being with pink curls and a red-and-white striped witch hat.

"Time to go, Sora," Kairi said, her eyes glittering like oceans as she stretched her hand out toward him.

Vivian held her hand out to Mario as well, still blushing at the sight of the Mushroom Kingdom's hero, even now. "Are you ready, Mario?" she said softly.

Mario looked at Vivian, his gratitude beyond expression. She had given herself over to True Death just to give the Smash Universe a fighting chance. His mind went to Peach, whom he would never see again, but then another thought occurred to him, and he realized that because of that thought, she would be well taken care of. He took Vivian's hand.

"Let's a-go."

Sora took Kairi's hand as well, and then both heroes were lifted into the light, and embraced True Death.


	38. Chapter 28: Familiar Days Revisited

" _Whatever changes your hearts have undergone will remain in place."_

 _ **~Master Hand**_

* * *

Chapter 28: Familiar Days Revisited

* * *

 ** _T_** _hump. Thump. Thump._

Luigi dashed around Bowser's side as the Koopa King stomped toward him, nostrils steaming like incensed engines. From the beast's tough, scaly body to his pointed horns, claws, and shell spikes, Bowser was built to be a menace, although the one soul in the entire Mushroom Kingdom who was not intimidated by his impressive bulk and savage, fiery eyes happened to be the opponent he now faced. Nonetheless, he was not about to yield yet another victory to the Italian plumber without a fight.

As Luigi attempted to outmaneuver his opponent, Bowser rotated his body at a remarkable speed, not allowing his quarry to escape his sight. Drawing a deep, monstrous breath, he caused the air rushing from his lungs to combust and flow from his gaping maw in a torrent of flames. Luigi spun around on his feet inches from being engulfed by the inferno and opted for the other direction, sweating profusely as the wall of licking flames pursued him as if alive. Gradually, he gained the advantage over Bowser's inhibited gyrations and dove inward, grabbing onto his enemy's reptilian tail.

Bowser's fire-breathing was cut short by the undignified jerk on his hindquarters. His furious roar echoed across the platform upon which they battled as Luigi lifted him off the ground and exerted disproportionate strength to spin him about—slowly at first, then picking up speed until Luigi's vision was but a blur of the blue and purple sky combined with Bowser's greens and yellows. Once the spinning motion had accelerated to its capacity, Luigi carefully timed the rhythm of the colors flying past him and released the tail.

With a roar even mightier than those before, Bowser careened across the platform and slammed into a blue sphere with yellow spikes, which exploded upon contact.

Luigi repositioned himself as the Koopa King fell. He brushed off debris from his green sleeves and blue overalls, pulled down his white gloves, smoothed his lush black mustache, and adjusted his trademark "L" cap. The stench of smoke and charred flesh assaulted his senses, as well as an overwhelming dizziness from having spun a several-hundred-pound beast around for twenty seconds. A jarring _crash_ sounded as Bowser met the platform face-first, shaking the entire structure. In fact, this disruption was sufficient to cause several segments of the platform to break off from it entirely, conveniently leaving behind the shape of a star.

With a throaty groan, Bowser clambered back onto his thick, muscular legs, facing his eternal rival, who had assumed a battle-ready stance. Narrowing his dark scarlet eyes, he muttered in a deep, resonant growl, never averting his gaze from that of Luigi's.

"No…you won't beat me… _this time."_

Sparing no more breath for words, Bowser cast himself several yards into the air and plummeted back to the surface like a vengeful meteor. The collision sent several ripples of wind-driven energy toward Luigi in quick succession. The hero was taken by surprise and found himself being recklessly tossed and battered by each wave, nearly knocking the wind out of him by the time he was left to collapse, panting, on the ground.

Bowser swiftly closed the distance between them and raised a claw, snorting triumphantly.

"Finally! See how you like it, hero!"

He brought his claw down toward Luigi, and…

…helped Luigi back to his feet. The rivals shook hands as the battle arena reset itself, and the sleek silver walls of Professor E. Gadd's laboratory/training center replaced the simulated skies of the climactic fight.

"Nice a-job," Luigi panted, his hands on his knees, brushing sweat off his forehead.

Bowser grinned. "You're not so bad yourself, Green 'Stache. Better luck next time."

* * *

They reconvened an hour later in the dining room of Princess Peach's Castle, where fresh Shroom Soufflé and Fire Flower Curry were being served along with Chuckola Soda and Teeheespresso imported straight from Rogueport and the Beanbean Kingdom, respectively. The brightly lit hall was filled with mirthful Toads and Toadettes; Koopas and Goombas; Yoshis and Shy Guys and Hammer Bros. At one end, Princess Peach sat regally between Toadsworth, Luigi, Gadd, and Bowser. Her face glowed with pure-hearted light.

"How wonderful it is to have you all here today." She looked at Luigi, then Bowser. "I was watching your battle, and as always I'm impressed with your fighting skills. Fighting is not something I'm fond of promoting in the Mushroom Kingdom, but of course we must always be prepared for whatever threats might assail our peaceful world."

Bowser threw Luigi a gloating glance. "Too true, princess. From what my scouts tell me, Smithy is marshaling his gang's forces yet again. I guess that ironhead just doesn't know when to quit."

"Right," Toadsworth said. "Then it is of the essence we all eat up, so we will have the energy to defend our kingdom from that fearsome forger. Including you, Your Highness." Toadsworth had noticed Peach's plate. She had hardly touched her food. He raised an eyebrow. "Are you feeling quite all right?"

Peach cleared her throat and tried to recompose herself. "I'm fine, Toadsworth. Just not very hungry; that's all."

But Toadsworth shook his head. "You've been acting woozy all day, my dear. I daresay you may have contracted another Virus. Have you been taking your Megavitamins as the Doctor prescribed?"

For some reason, Peach's face turned pink. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

Gadd chuckled and shared a furtive look with Luigi. "I think we all know why the princess is afraid to see the Doctor, lads. And it's not because of the distasteful medicine or the possibility of dire diagnoses."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Peach tried. And failed.

"You get yourself over to that clinic, Peach," Bowser growled. "I won't have the Mushroom Kingdom heirless on account of your pathetic heartstrings being twisted in a knot."

There was an awkward silence. Then:

"Can you pass a-the ravioli?" Luigi asked. Gadd obliged, and their conversation turned to less controversial matters.

* * *

"Dad, I just can't do it!"

Ten-year-old Red pouted as the Pidgey he, April, and their father had been chasing through the tall grass outside Pallet Town fled into the sky. The boy had been given a Berry to lure the Pokémon closer, but his less-than-subtle sneaking had quickly alerted the Pidgey to his presence.

Quentin laughed and patted his son on the back. "Sure you can, Red. It just takes time and practice. Soon you will learn how to earn a Pokémon's trust, and then, one day, I will teach you about the Spirit Bond. Humans and Pokémon share a deep connection; once you are able to tap into it, you will be able to form friendships with Pokémon as close as any of your school friends."

Most of that went over Red's head. But he still appreciated his dad's attempt to make him feel better. "I just wanna get a Pikachu, though," he said eagerly. "Make him fight other Pokémon and train him to be the bestest Pokémon like no one ever was!"

April, who was a few years older than Red, poked him playfully in the stomach. "Pokémon aren't for training or fighting, bro," she said. "Every time someone's tried to organize a tournament or competition, the Elite Four shuts it down right away."

"Your sister is right," Quentin said as they began walking back toward Pallet Town. The sky was a bright, immaculate blue, the air carrying a perfectly light breeze. "Lance and his colleagues have some of the most powerful Spirit Bonds of them all, so strong that they can call upon Pokémon at any time to protect Kanto from the likes of Team Rocket and other criminals. The production of Pokéballs and other illegal activities is securely prevented. If Pokémon were to be used as slaves, or soldiers…why, the entire balance of This World would be disrupted. We are to appreciate Pokémon, Red, and nothing more. But their beauty and majesty is worth the study of many thousands of lifetimes."

Red sighed. "Okay…I guess you're right."

"Hurry, Gramps, or it'll get away!"

Suddenly, Gary and Professor Oak streaked past them through the tall grass, chasing after a sparking yellow creature that was scuttling away from them.

Red beamed. "Let's go!" he called to his sister and father, and away they raced, back into the wild.

* * *

"Enemy spotted up ahead," Peppy reported from the Great Fox as they approached Macbeth.

"Roger that," Fox said from his Arwing. "All team members, report in!"

"Slippy here!"

"Krystal, standing by."

"Falco, locked and loaded!"

They drew nearer to the gray planet's atmosphere. Between them and their destination, however, were two huge snakelike entities composed of large, triangular metal segments which spun at different rates, forming a wormy chain like the Pokémon Onix. The "heads" were faceless, consisting only of two pincer-like prongs that glowed redder than Rudolph's nose. And attached to each surface of every triangular prism were spindly turrets, swiveling with an unsettling sentience like the legs of a millipede. The late Andross's Starcrawlers, completed by his diabolical nephew, Andrew Oikonny.

"Whoa!"

A segment of black tar-like energy nicked one of Fox's wings, melting the paint off. Fox sighed; his father was gonna kill him when he found out.

"Defensive maneuvers," Fox said, barrel-rolling away from the ensuing barrage of black lasers. "Find their weak points!"

"Thought you could take all the fun for yourself, Fox?"

Three additional ships approached from the other side, blasting the Starcrawlers from behind and systematically tearing apart the creatures/machines (no one was really sure which) until the enemies were no more.

Wolfens.

"And who invited you, Star Wolf?" Falco challenged, clearly peeved that he had been deprived of action.

"How rude," Panther crooned. "Methinks this unfledged falcon should be taught some manners."

"Admit it," Leon sneered as Star Wolf circled around to join Star Fox in their approach of Macbeth. "You cockroaches would be squashed by now if it weren't for us."

"Fat chance," Fox said. Then, after a moment of allowing his pride to settle, he smiled. He had to admit, the Starcrawlers were gone thanks to their friendly rivals. "Thanks all the same, Wolf. Lylat's a lot safer with two mercenary bands protecting it instead of one."

"Yeah, whatever," Wolf muttered. Now they were descending through Macbeth's atmosphere, and soon they could see the old armories and foundries laid out below, with railroad tracks curving through the desolate region that had only recently been repopulated and reactivated by Oikonny's forces. "We could've made it three teams if Dash and his punk friends hadn't gone off and allied themselves with Titania's rogues."

Fox knew Wolf spoke the truth. But in spite of the errant decisions of his friend in the Cornerian Fleet, there was something deep in Fox's heart that gave him hope. "We'll get him back," he said. "Dash may be Andross's grandson, but he's essentially good at heart. He just needs some time to figure out what he wants. He'll come around."

"What makes you so sure?" Slippy asked as they flew toward Oikonny's Macbethan weapon factories.

Fox watched the blurry gray sky pensively. "I dunno, Slippy…it's just something my heart's telling me."

* * *

After two painstaking hours of sneaking past Hylian guards—behind hedges, around fountains, through shrubs— Young Link finally entered the courtyard of Hyrule Castle.

It was a large square space, populated with rows of sweet-smelling roses and lilacs and tulips, poplar and spruce trees, maidenhair ferns, the ancient white masonry of stone walls with moss creeping out from the cracks, and one beautiful young princess facing away from him, watching the corridor to the throne room through a window. Her traditional royal headdress formed a sort of square white bonnet on the back of her head, the magenta layers over her white dress emblazoned with the symbol of the Triforce and the Hylian crest.

Link peered at her from behind the nearest shrub, suddenly shy. He had never met a real princess before. It had been fun exploring the castle grounds, but maybe it was time for him to head back.

"Who…who are you? How did you get past the guards?"

Too late for that. Link gulped as he stepped out sheepishly from behind the shrub, discovered. But he was speechless—all he could do was stare at the princess, awestruck by her somehow magical presence.

To his relief, Zelda smiled. "It's all right; I won't tell on you. I'm Zelda. What's your name?"

"L-link."

"You seem like a nice boy, Link. Come here; there's something I want to show you."

Link approached cautiously as if the girl were a ticking time bomb. When he reached her and nothing exploded, he exhaled with relief.

"Look through here." Zelda pointed at the window.

Link beheld an interesting scene: a dark-skinned, red-haired man with weathered armor and a big nose was kneeling before a large crowned man in a red coat—the King of Hyrule.

"That's my father, the King, of course," Zelda said, pointing to the throne. Her eyes turned to the bowing man. "And that's Ganondorf of the Gerudos. He's one of Hyrule's oldest allies, providing essential trading goods and military aid whenever our land has been endangered by Vaati or any of our other enemies. He's the one who's teaching me to wield a sword, and he's one of the bravest men I've ever known. I really like him."

"Oh." Link wasn't sure what else to say. His heart was emitting strange vibrations, as if he was connected to this princess and to this Ganondorf somehow. Had he bothered to check the back of his left hand, he would have found the Triforce of Courage glowing in its newly emerging strength.

"Milady."

Both children turned in alarm to behold another young maiden, this one with long strawberry curls and a periwinkle dress. She curtsied.

Zelda inclined her head calmly, as if Link's presence were nothing out of the ordinary. "Yes, Marin?"

Marin couldn't help her eyes flickering over to the Kokiri boy a couple times. "I've been sent by Impa to request your presence. Your magic training session is soon to begin."

"Oh." Link might have been imagining it, but to him it almost sounded as if Zelda was disappointed by the reminder. "Yes; I will come right away." She turned to Link. "Sorry; I'm afraid you must go. My father would not be pleased if he were to find a stranger wandering the castle grounds."

Link nodded. "That's okay." He began making his way out of the courtyard, smiling at Marin like an old friend as they passed each other, and paused before disappearing into the hedge maze. He turned once more.

"Princess Zelda?"

"Yes, Link?"

"Can I come see you again?"

Zelda looked a bit surprised, but after a moment, she smiled ruefully and shook her head. "I'm afraid not; my father would never allow it." Her face brightened. "But you know, I have an odd feeling we will be seeing each other again soon."

"Yeah," Link said, grinning. "Me too."

And then the Hero of Legend was gone.

* * *

THE END


	39. Epilogue

" _To die and be forgotten doesn't mean_

 _there will be nothing left of you."_

 _ **~Kairi**_

* * *

Epilogue

* * *

 **The Other Earth**

* * *

 ** _T_** he 8-bit Jumpman dashed across the two-dimensional, pixelated brick landscape. He hopped over Piranha Plants, squashed Goombas, kicked Koopa shells, and collected coins from golden "?" blocks. He grew twice his size upon consuming a sliding Mushroom, then donned Fireball powers when he obtained a Fire Flower.

The Jumpman evaded the Lakitu's Spinies. He sank into Warp Pipes and explored blue underground caverns. He tossed Buzzy Beetle shells at other enemies. He dodged the projectiles cast by hopping Hammer Bros. and jumped across ascending and descending orange platforms.

He entered another Warp Pipe and swam through Blooper and Cheep Cheep-infested waters. He navigated currents and tossed Fireballs and pressed on into the castle. Nothing would stop him from saving his princess.

He jumped across lava pits, narrowly avoiding death by the Lava Bubbles which leapt from the lava pools. He bounced off one Bullet Bill after the other, ascending past rows of cannons. He dashed down the hallway to the red double doors that would take him to the final boss…

"I said it's time for dinner! Come down now if you don't want your food to get cold!"

* * *

 _PAUSE_

* * *

The boy groaned as he set his controller down and looked at his dad, who had appeared in his bedroom doorway and for some reason felt the need to speak way louder than necessary.

"Coming," he said with more than a little annoyance. He jumped to his feet, adjusting the red cap he wore sideways, smoothing out his blue-and-yellow striped T-shirt and shorts. "Why can't you just let me finish the level? I've almost won!"

The father sighed and walked into the room, oblivious to the fact that the game was paused and would not be able to resume from the same spot after being shut down.

"It's just a game," he said, reaching for the power button.

The boy was about to protest, but it was too late. The Nintendo Entertainment System's power was switched off, and the screen went black.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** This is it! _The Trophies_ saga is officially over. I want to thank everyone who took the time to come with me on this journey as readers, critics, etc. I know it was a lot of reading-some 700,000 words total, I think? Anyway, I would appreciate if anyone who gets to this point could leave their final thoughts-what have you liked about _Heart of the Kingdom_ , or even about all the _Trophies_ stories as a whole? What worked well? What would you recommend I do differently as a writer in the future? Any favorite scenes/moments? Any loose plot threads you want to see if I'm willing to answer? :P

FYI, right now I'm finishing a final read-through of the manuscript, making a bunch of small edits; then I'm going to finish designing the cover and order printed proof copies of _Heart of the Kingdom_ for my own satisfaction and to share with family/friends. If you want a copy as well, obviously I can't sell it to you without violating about a billion copyright laws, but I'd be happy to print you one if you could cover the printing/shipping cost, which would be about $10 (Hey, I'm a poor college student!). I can also share a pdf version of the story (for free, obviously), which includes chapter pictures, all the maps and logos, and some other differences. It's also formatted to read as an 800-odd page book, so it's a bit easier on the eyes than 's text in my opinion.

I should also mention that this marks the conclusion of my time as a fanfiction writer. As much as I've enjoyed taking these characters and making them fresh and putting my unique twist on things, I feel that it's time for me to turn to other projects that I could actually, you know, publish. Having a limited audience is a real problem that I wish didn't exist, but alas, it does, and in order for me to reach a wider audience, I have to expand my subject matter.

Obviously my real name isn't Bob Snicket, so if you want to follow my work, send me a PM and I can give you my Facebook address and name. I occasionally post short pieces there in my Notes section (who uses that anymore, right? I do, punk. That's the answer.), and I'm planning on creating a blog soon to better format and organize my short stories. I do already have several good ideas for other novels that I"m excited about, one of which I got about 10,000 words into during a creative writing class.

But in spite of all this, I always have and always will love Super Smash Bros. If you couldn't tell, I was a stranger to most of the Sony, Microsoft, and even Kingdom Hearts elements of these stories, which meant profuse research was required. It was an important part of my child, and I leave this as tribute to that shaping influence.

So next time you're playing a Nintendo game, imagine those characters living their very real lives; consider how thin that veil between reality and fantasy often gets. Consider the heroes, and villains, and everyone in between, who we remember not because they're real, but because they're colorful, and creative, and interesting, and truly have an impact on how we see our world. Certainly, at the end of the day we must leave our computers and laptops and TVs and video games, and go off into the real world; but there's no denying that a piece of our hearts belongs to these characters' stories and deeds and destinies. May their destinies inspire our own, and may our hearts be our guiding key.

~Bob Snicket


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